Pokemon Ashen
by Nikaya
Summary: What if a virtual reality game was released for the Pokemon anime? This story follows Ash Ketchum and friends on a new journey – with a new companion dropped into their world. But when something goes wrong, the full capabilities of the AI system are unleashed on the world. Will Ash remember his journeys through every region? Just what is the power of Aura?
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Gary, it's locked!" she yelled into the Xtransceiver. "Something is attaching it to the panel!"

"Get a scan on it," the teen on the other end of the video call responded. He hastily began typing at his keyboard to figure out what the problem was.

The girl in question lowered her wrist to scan the casing in front of her. Inside the glass was an unconscious, blue, baby Pokémon, struggling to survive. The scanner on her wrist traced a red light over the casing and the panel in front of her.

"I'm sending you a code that seems to be the unlock," the boy said quickly, "but Nick, you need to get out of there fast. Putting in that code is going to alert the whole system."

Clenching her teeth and ignoring the caller on the other end, Nick pulled up the code on her Xtransceiver and began typing in the numbers on the panel.

"Nick, you have to start moving!" he warned her again.

But it was too late. The sirens started to blare, and footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway as shouts of orders were being made.

"Nick!"

"Got it!" she exclaimed, the case detaching from the counter at last. She opened the bag she had on her back wider and carefully lowered the case inside.

"Hold it right there!"

The girl in question turned slowly around to see five Team Galactic grunts aiming guns right at her. Her eyes widened and her throat seemed to close.

Walking through the door at last was the one person in this world that Nick truly had no mercy for.

It was Pokémon Hunter J.

"Why am I not surprised that you were the infiltrator?" the silver-haired hunter mused.

"Why am I not surprised you're working for Team Galactic?" the bright-brunette shot back.

"Working for them?" the hunter questioned. "You're funny, kid. They work for _me_ now."

Nick's eyes narrowed, but she took a tentative step backward. But the grunts in front of her aimed their weapons a little higher, and Nick froze.

"Uh uh uh!" J said, holding up a hand. "Take another step and you and that stupid Riolu die!"

Nick bit her lip, looking over her shoulder behind her. Out the window was a storm of pouring rain and the black, choppy waters of the ocean below. Looking back at J, Nick smirked.

"Do it!" came Gary's voice through the Xtransceiver.

But Nick was already bashing her elbow through the glass as bullets began to fly through the air.

Fumbling with her belt, Nick clicked the Pokéball she needed just before she hit the icy waters below. "Lanturn!"

With a huge splash, the girl broke the surface of the water below her beginning to shake from the cold.

Before Nick could lose her breath, the dolphin Pokémon lit the water as she caught the shaking girl on her body, rising quickly to the surface.

Lanturn started to swim as quickly as possible toward the shore ahead of her, but behind them were the other Galactic grunts following on their own Pokémon.

Squinting her eyes through the storm, Nick faintly saw a gigantic blue Pokémon in the distance and someone riding it out into the water. There was another figure standing on the shore, waving their arms frantically. Lanturn made a dash for them.

Nick struggled to breathe against the ice-cold of the ocean around her, and realized she had also been gripping onto her Lanturn with only one hand, the other holding her side.

The voice of Gary was cutting in and out on her wrist until it finally went dead.

Lanturn shook a bit against the current from when the Gyarados passed them by, and Nick saw Misty as she charged at the grunts that were following behind them.

When she turned back to the shore, Nick realized how close they were. She could see Ash throw a Pokéball and soon after, Greninja appeared in the water. When he got close enough, the frog Pokémon got behind Lanturn and helped to push them to shore.

Just reaching the beach, Ash ran to them splashing through the water and knelt down in front of the girl, still shaking.

Barely able to keep her eyes open at this point, she looked up at Ash and nodded. Relief washed over the boy until Nick winced hard and cried out in pain.

Pulling her hand away from her side, he could see the blood staining the Team Galactic uniform and turning the water around her red. Recalling Lanturn for Nick, Ash picked up the girl and carried her further up the shore and onto the sand. Greninja followed behind, carrying the bag with the injured Riolu over his back.

Huffing against the strain and beginning to glow blue all around him, he pushed on into the night, determined to get her to safety.

 _Two years earlier_

A warm breeze blew around the cliff as the sun set over the ocean below. A warm glow painted a young girl in a brilliant orange, her blue eyes sparkling in the light.

This girl was about to start her Pokémon journey.

The only thing was… this was a very _different_ type of journey than she had ever been on before.

Playing the games all her life, she reveled at the chance to try the newest generation of Pokémon. But with this new generation came the greatest change the games had ever seen before.

Pokémon Florid and Pokémon Ashen were the newest additions to the franchise. Both games had a new mechanic of trainer classes. As trainers themselves leveled up, players had the option to spec their level points into one tree of the seven unique classes: trainer, breeder, type specialist, ranger, coordinator, performer, or researcher. Each class allowed the player to choose a unique career path in the world of Pokémon, and allowed players to enjoy being whatever type of trainer they wished to be.

Each game – unlike the older counterparts – had its own unique twist to the world of Pokémon.

Pokémon Florid was a more traditional Pokémon game with a turn-based battle style where trainers collected eight badges before taking on the Elite Four and battling the Champion or had the option of choosing a different class journey. However, both Pokémon Florid and Pokémon Ashen utilized the most advanced virtual reality technology the world had ever seen. And in Pokémon Florid, the player chose what region they played in for each save file.

Pokémon Ashen had its own set of unique rules. The game – while also virtual reality – included the latest in artificial intelligence technology. Creating a game to please a wider audience of Pokémon fans, Pokémon Ashen was instead based on the anime; the battles were no longer turn-based and more free-style, players could travel between multiple regions, and finally, players could interact with characters from the anime in real time. Through the game's unique AI program, characters would have some knowledge of the adventures they had during the course of their time in the anime, and players could choose two companions to accompany them on their journey.

This girl, preferring the name Nick, had a history with Pokémon. The excitement coursed through her as she watched the scene before her change to a lush forest of Pokémon around her, with a very familiar pink Pokémon darting between the trees.

Watching the scene change again, Nick looked around her in awe as she was transported to a stadium lit up at night with fans cheering all around her. Before her were all of the final evolutions of the starter Pokémon throughout the generations of the game. The scene shifted again to the first one, and a small transparent window popped up in front of the girl.

"Welcome," the message read in English. "To begin your Pokémon journey, please accept the terms and conditions of your full body scan."

Nick quickly pressed her finger to the blue "Accept" button on the screen in front of her. "Please wait a moment." the window read. In a few seconds, the scan was complete, and a new window appeared.

"Please enter your name, age, and home." Then, a transparent keyboard appeared just below the window.

The girl quickly typed in "Nick", "18", and "United States", onto the keyboard in front of her. The computer took a moment to recognize the information until a new menu appeared.

"Please choose from the following", it read.

The first set of options were starting regions. Nick selected Kanto.

The second set of options were class. She chose Trainer.

The last set of options were for companions. Taking a deep breath, Nick pressed the boxes next to the names "Ash Ketchum" and "Misty".

"Thank you," the window read. "Welcome to the world of Pokémon, Nick!"

 **[Author's Note 5/27/16]: Hello again everyone! I hope you all like the Prologue of my newest story! Obviously the Prologue is much shorter than the actual chapters will be, so don't be disappointed! I also just wanted to bring up a few points you're all probably wondering that isn't made clear here and there's not enough room in the summary unfortunately.**

 **There's going to Pokeshipping, Contestshipping, Ikarishipping, Wishfulshipping, and eventually Geekchicshipping! Each of Ash's old companions will be visited at some point or another, and I'm really excited to write about each of them!**

 **Just stay patient with me while I try writing in the third person for the first time! I'm really excited for this, so I hope you all enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing!**


	2. Riku, I Choose You!

Riku, I Choose You!

Upon seeing the welcome message, the world around Nick began to glow so brightly, she had to shield her eyes. When the light subsided, she was standing on a grassy hill.

Lowing her arm to look out over her surroundings, Nick gasped in awe.

Below the hill she stood on, the young girl could see a small town with modest houses. The lush forest behind her seemed to whisper as the leaves jostled in the wind. Nick took a deep breath as her hair began to blow around her and she closed her eyes, feeling the warmth of the sun on her face.

Opening her eyes again, she whispered, "I'm home,"

Running down the path in front of her, Nick noticed quickly that the world she was in definitely took her actual stamina into consideration. She was breathing a little heavier the faster she ran, but she couldn't let that stop her excitement from flowing through her.

As she came to the houses, she could see Professor Oak's laboratory up on a hill a little way off in the distance with a grassy field surrounding it beyond the gate. People watched and waved to her as she ran past, and in her excitement, she waved back completely unembarrassed.

After what felt like far too long, Nick made her way to the gate and put her hands on her knees, gasping for breath. When her breath caught up with her excitement, she pressed the bell on the side of the gate.

"Hello? Who's there?" came a cheery voice from the other end of the speaker.

"Hi there!" Nick exclaimed into the speaker. "My name's Nick! It's the first day of my journey!"

"Nick, eh?" the voice said a little confused. "Are you a boy or a girl?"

Nick scratched the back of her head, stifling her laughter. "I'm a girl; it's just a nickname."

"Oh! So you must be here for your first Pokémon!" he said, finally getting excited alongside Nick. "Please! Do come in!"

After a moment, the gate in front of Nick slowly creaked open. She walked up the stairs to the laboratory – careful not to trip – and made it to the front door at last. She knocked three times, and then the door opened before her.

An elderly man in a lab coat with neatly combed gray hair opened the door and smiled at her brightly. "Why hello there!" he greeted. "My name is Professor Oak! Welcome to my laboratory, Nick! Are you ready to receive your first Pokémon?"

"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this," Nick whispered. "It's so great to meet you, Professor!" she said, holding out a hand to shake his.

He looked at her hand for a moment before he took it gently and shook her hand firmly, smiling. "Please! Do come in!"

The professor held the door open for Nick to enter before closing it behind her. He guided her up the stairs at the back of the laboratory.

Nick stopped cold.

Typing at a computer to the left of her stood a tall, brunet teenager wearing a lab coat.

"Is the new trainer here, Grandpa?" the boy asked. He turned away from the computer to look over at Nick. His eyes widened under his glasses for a moment before smiling. "You must be her." He hit another button on the computer before walking over to Nick. He pocketed his glasses and held out a hand to her. "The name's Gary Oak. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Nick smiled brightly and took his hand. "Hi Gary, I'm Nick."

"Oh! Wait a second…. I think there's some other trainers here that would like to meet you. Hey guys! Come greet the new trainer!" he called out toward the stairs.

Nick turned in what felt like slow motion to her as she caught sight of red hair coming up the stairs.

"I can't wait to see if she picks a water type Pokémon!" came the female voice as she appeared at the top of the stairs. Blue-green eyes met Nick's blue ones with a look of excitement that matched Nick's. She was wearing a yellow off-the-shoulder shirt with a red tank top underneath and denim shorts. Her hair was pulled into a low side-ponytail, and she wore red high-tops.

Nick gaped at her for a moment as the teenage girl approached her. She seemed to study Nick's appearance for a moment. Nick wore a bright green tank top with jeans and red high-tops that matched the red-head's.

Making a decision, the red-head held out her hand. "I'm Misty, Cerulean City Gym Leader! Nice to meet ya!"

Still staring a bit, Nick shook her head and grasped Misty's hand. "I'm Nick, and I'm so happy to meet you."

"Wait for me!"

Nick looked past Misty to the stairs again.

With a red hat and a blue jacket, a boy not much younger than Nick appeared at the top of the stairs. He stared at Misty and Nick for a moment before smiling. "My name is Ash, and I'm from Pallet Town!"

Nick took a tentative step forward. What the boy in front of her didn't know was that she had been waiting for this moment for years. And finally seeing him for the first time, she had no words.

"Don't be shy!" Ash said, smiling brightly.

Nick bit her bottom lip before finally running forward. She jumped straight into the younger boy's arms, gripping him in a hug that had been building up for too long. Being short for her age, her chin rested on his shoulder, and she wrapped her arms around his waist.

A little in shock, Ash at first wasn't sure how to react. But soon realizing what she wanted, Ash put his arms around the girl and leaned his head on hers.

As they hugged, a small yellow Pokémon made its way up the stairs and jumped up at Nick. A little startled, she looked down at the Pokémon tugging at her leg before picking him up. "Pikachu!"

"Chaaaa!" he greeted her. He nuzzled his face into her free hand.

"Well!" the professor said, clapping his hands together. "Shall we get started then?"

Nick turned to Ash and Misty, both of them nodded in reassurance. Nick turned to the professor, beaming. "Yes! Please!" She set Pikachu down on the floor and he hopped over to Misty's feet.

Samuel Oak walked over to the round, electronic table in the center of the room. Three Pokéballs sat in a triangle around the edges with another opening in the center.

"Today is a special day to choose your Pokémon," he began. "Gary?"

The brunet walked over to the table and picked up the first Pokéball. "First is Bulbasaur, a grass type," he said. He lightly tossed the Pokéball in the air and the little grass type appeared on the floor.

"Bulba!" it cooed. It smiled brightly up at them.

"Then we have Charmander, the fire type." He tossed the second Pokéball up and the small lizard-like Pokemon appeared.

"Char! Charmander!" it called, swinging its tail around.

"The last starter is Squirtle, a water type Pokémon." He tossed the last one in the air.

"Squir.…" The little turtle Pokémon greeted everyone briefly before retreating back into its shell.

"Aww, he's so shy!" Misty said. "It's alright little guy…." The Pokémon made no move to come back out.

"Maybe he's scared of _you_ ," Ash pointed out, teasingly.

Misty's face scrunched up into a scowl before she gave him a light slap on the arm. "Always the wise-guy, aren't you, Ketchum?"

"Now," the professor continued, "there are a few others here that you are welcome to take a look at. But I'm not too sure if they are appropriate for a first Pokémon."

"I'd love to see them, Professor." Nick said politely.

Gary nodded and turned to the table again. He pressed a red button, and out of the center opening rolled five more Pokéballs. Nick's eyed widened in surprise. She had known the game featured something unique for starter Pokémon, but she hadn't known that there was more than one.

Gary turned back to her, his arms full of Pokéballs. He threw them all in the air at once, and called out, "Come out all of you!"

Wide eyed, Nick observed the Pokémon that stood before her one at a time.

The first to appear was an Oddish, the second was Growlithe, the third was Poliwag, and the fourth was Eevee.

Nick stopped at the last one. She gaped at it for a moment before kneeling down in front of the small Pokémon.

Its green eyes shown bright in the light of the lab, and its yellow fur stood out amongst the other Pokémon. It sat perfectly still for Nick to observe it, and it held its head high. Nick slowly reached out, and scratched the Pokémon under its chin to which the Pokémon before her nuzzled her hand. She noticed how warm the Pokémon's fur was beneath her touch.

"That Pokémon," Gary said, "is a shiny Vulpix. He's a pretty confident one but can be a little difficult at times."

Nick picked up the small fire fox Pokémon, standing up and raised him above her head, practically glowing. "He's perfect." she said.

"Vul! Pix, pix!" he called out. Nick pulled the Pokémon back down to her and cuddled him in her arms, giving him a small kiss on the forehead.

"Would you like to give him a nickname?" Professor Oak asked. Gary recalled the other Pokémon back to their Pokéballs.

Nick looked down for a minute at the Pokémon in her arms. "I think the name Riku fits him."

"Nice to meet you, Riku!" Ash called out, walking over and ruffling the tufts of fur on the top of his head.

Misty walked over too. "What an adorable little fire type," she said to Nick, smiling.

"Thank you… all of you," she said.

Gary made eye contact with her for a brief moment and smiled back at her. Ash put a hand on Nick's shoulder, and Pikachu scurried up onto his shoulder, looking at the Vulpix.

Riku looked at Nick for a moment before deciding to gently lick her cheek and wagged his fluffy little tail.

That moment set everything in motion.

Ash suddenly squeezed Nick's shoulder hard to steady himself, and as Nick turned to him, he began to collapse to the ground.

"Ash!" Misty called out but wasn't able to help him as she held her own head against the pain threatening to burst through her.

Nick let go of Riku and knelt down at Ash's side, holding him upright. Panicked, she looked from one person to the next as they all seemed to collectively gain massive headaches. With her eyes wide, she looked back down to Ash where Pikachu was attempting to shake him to keep him conscious.

"Gramps…" Gary groaned out. "What's… happening…?"

But the professor was nearly on the ground, clenching his own eyes shut against the pain. Terrified, the grandson made his way slowly over to where the computer was and pulled himself into the desk chair uneasily. Despite the intense pain in his temples and feeling as though his head could explode at any moment, Gary began typing furiously at the keys in search of an answer.

"Gary!" Nick called to him. "Something's wrong with Ash!"

Looking over his shoulder, the _something_ was obvious to see. But what exactly was happening to the boy was a mystery to all of them.

His entire body began to glow a bright blue, and he started convulsing.

Clenching his teeth, Gary turned back to the keyboard.

But Gary stopped cold as images of his life flashed in his mind's eye. His parents died when he was a young kid. He and Ash were competitive all through their childhood together. He remembered traveling all over the Kanto region and competing in the Pokémon League. He did research in Sinnoh.

And just like that, the pain stopped.

Hands still hovering above the keyboard, Gary gaped for a moment before a cry for help pierced his thoughts.

" _Gary!"_ Nick called again.

Nearly flipping over the chair, Gary ran to Nick and Ash on the floor. Misty and the professor seemed to be alright as the two of them were trying to help hold Ash still.

"Misty, go get a damp towel and some water. Nick, help me lift him onto the desk. Gramps, clear it off!" he barked the orders to make them move as quickly as possible. The only thought crossing his mind was that his childhood friend was having a seizure.

"On my count," he said to Nick as the two of them pushed their arms under the boy as they fought against his thrashing. "One, two, three!" The two of them lifted him off the ground and onto the desk at the back of the room that Professor Oak had cleared for him. Once on the desk, Gary told Nick to hold him still while he took in the scene.

That was when the intelligent young man realized what was happening; Ash wasn't seizing, he was in incredible agony.

Ash was writhing in pain, clenching his eyes shut and fists tight, he groaned and yelled soliciting worried whimpers from Pikachu and Riku as they stood by Nick's feet. The blue glow seemed to flash in and out around him, and Gary and Nick struggled to hold him still.

"Ash, you gotta tell us what's hurting!" Gary yelled at him. But the boy on the desk continued flailing.

Misty rushed back into the room, water and towel in-hand. She came to Nick's side in a blur and she hesitated before placing the damp towel over his forehead.

"He's not seizing," Gary said mostly to Misty. "But he's in agony."

"Shouldn't we do something?" she asked, her voice hitching on the last word.

"Something happened to all of you," Nick pointed out. Gary, Misty and the professor all turned to her. "You all felt it at the same time."

Gary, Misty and Professor Oak exchanged looks.

"I just thought I was dying," Gary stated bluntly. "I saw my life flash before my eyes."

"Me too," Misty said quickly. She bit her bottom lip, looking to Ash but said nothing more.

"I did as well," Professor Oak agreed.

"But why is Ash feeling it so much worse than the rest of us?" Misty asked.

"Because he's experienced so much more…." Nick trailed off quietly.

Putting the pieces together, she looked down to the two worried Pokémon and back up to the others. Finally, Ash stopped thrashing and passed out. The blue glow began to die down before dissipating.

"It's stopped," the professor said. He turned to Nick. "You have a theory on what just happened to us, don't you?"

Then it was Nick's turned to bite her lip before answering. "I… I don't know…."

"What do you mean you don't know?!" Misty snapped. She got dangerously close to Nick, her eyes ablaze. "What is it?!"

Nick narrowed her eyes at Misty, slightly taken aback at her response. "First I need you to take a step back."

Misty scowled a bit before retreating.

"Can we sit somewhere?" Nick asked, taking a deep breath. "I think you all need to listen to this sitting down."

Gary and the professor exchanged glances before guiding the other two girls downstairs. Turning to the two little Pokémon, Nick nodded in the direction of Ash. The Pokémon nodded and hopped up on the desk beside him, both resting their heads on his chest. The professor and Gary led them to a small living room with a fireplace. Misty sat next to Nick on one couch with Gary and the professor across from them.

Nick interlocked her fingers and rested her elbows on her knees with her chin on her hands. "I think you all know what just happened."

"If we knew what just happened, then we wouldn't be asking you!" Misty snapped again.

"Misty, please," Gary said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Don't lie to yourself."

Misty took a breath and stopped speaking.

Gary opened his eyes again and looked to Nick. "The AI just broke… didn't it?" he whispered to her.

Nick firmly but slowly nodded her head. "You're all self-aware now… aren't you?"

"He's back…." Misty admitted so quietly so that almost no one heard her. But Nick being right next to her did. She turned to face her and listened. "After all this time… he's home… and I didn't…. I didn't even know how long…." Misty put her face in her hands. She didn't openly sob, but Nick could hear her sniff in sharply.

Not sure of what else to do, Nick put a hand on Misty's shoulder, and the red-head picked up her head to look at Nick. "If you're aware of what's going on, then you know it's not his fault."

Misty took a sharp breath and nodded. "I know…. I just… can't believe it."

"I'm sorry, but I think I'm a bit lost here," Samuel Oak piped up. "What exactly is going on?"

"If my guess is correct," Gary started, looking to Nick, "we are just AI programs… artificial intelligence."

The professor cocked his head slightly to the side and opened his mouth as if to ask a further question but didn't truly know what to ask.

Nick nodded in the meantime. "Essentially, you were all created for this game… you all represent _characters_ from the anime you're from. In other words, you all just remembered everything that was ever written into the database about your character. And I think that was an accident."

"You mean that we somehow accessed more of our potential data for our characters?" Gary asked.

Nick nodded her head slowly and chanced a glance at Misty who seemed to be listening intently. "I don't know much about computers or gaming technology, but from what I _do_ understand, this virtual world was meant to quite literally _house_ the entirety of the characters from the anime. And that means that each of you now remembers everything that happened to you… somehow." She looked to Gary for reassurance on what she was saying.

"That's a pretty accurate description, really," he agreed. "But I don't think we were supposed to know all of that information about ourselves until the player – Nick – gains access to it. But somehow it happened immediately."

"What about Ash?" Misty prodded. "Why was he the worst off? Why was he glowing blue?"

Gary looked to Nick. "I think that if anything, it's because he was there all these years."

Misty looked to Nick as well and furrowed her eyebrows. "What does he mean?"

At this, Nick sighed. "It's a _long_ explanation…. But I think the best way I can explain it is by my theory. I think that because Ash was the protagonist and because he was traveling to all of the various regions for years, he felt it the worst."

Misty nodded to show she understood, but still seemed confused.

Continuing she added, "If my guess is right, then that means each region took about a year to complete. So Ash traveled with you for about three years. And so, he hasn't seen you since the Hoenn League three years ago.

Misty bit her bottom lip again and sighed. "I've missed him so much…."

Nick knew what question Misty probably wanted to ask, but she wasn't about to reveal his biggest secret.

Nick felt that it wasn't hers to tell.

Nick was the only one there besides Pikachu that knew that Ash was an Aura Guardian. He could manipulate the power of Aura, much like a Lucario could, and was able to use all different types of psychic abilities such as telepathy and telekinesis. In addition, he was able to create shields and spheres made of Aura. He could feel the hearts and Aura of those around him, connecting especially to those closest to him.

But none of the others knew. Nick knew it had to have been why the power of Aura was seeping out of him when he was in so much pain. All of his power that had been pushed down and locked away for years was finally coming to the surface, and it was overwhelming him.

Nick didn't know what to do. On the one hand, she could tell the others and hopefully they would be able to help Ash gain control of it. But on the other hand, there was a reason no one else knew that he had those powers, and it was because he didn't want them. All _Ash_ wanted was to become a Pokémon Master.

Keeping his best interest at heart, Nick decided that he could reveal his secret when he was ready.

 _Meanwhile_

Rocket grunt after grunt was bursting into the dark office unannounced. But for the first time, the man sitting in the leather chair by the window did not scold them for doing so.

He was too busy piecing everything together. He had learned of the other Teams. He had learned of where they were. He had learned of his _advantage_.

Now he needed a plan.

This man was a force to be reckoned with in the world of Pokémon, having stolen so much from so many people.

He knew this was his chance. With so many other Teams throughout the regions, he could easily take control of anything he wanted.

It was only a matter of time.

And he knew who the only two people who could stop him were.

He would find them.

And he wouldn't just kill them. Oh no…. He wanted to have much more than that.

He wanted to _destroy_ their lives.

 **[Author's Note 6/2/16]: So here's the first chapter! This is my first story in the third person, and I'm really nervous about writing it this way. But I feel like it will be a good challenge for me, but I just hope it doesn't hinder the story in any way.**

 **Obviously this is just the first chapter to set up plot, but more is to come, and we will learn exactly who Nick is and what Team Rocket is up to!**

 **Also, I hope everyone is just as excited as I am for Ash having Aura Guardian abilities! We'll see when he decides to tell the truth!**

 **Stay tuned for the next chapter!**


	3. Pokemon Emergency

Pokémon Emergency

Shooting upright, Ash Ketchum was gasping for air.

Pikachu and Riku the Vulpix were sitting on the desk were the teenager was laying down just seconds ago, and they climbed onto his legs with worried expressions.

"Pikachu…." Ash said, starting to catch his breath and relieved to see his companion. "I… I just had the worst nightmare…." He put a hand over his chest and closed his eyes for a moment, steadying himself.

When he recovered, he opened his eyes again to look at the two small Pokémon on him. "I thought that I couldn't remember our whole journey together. I thought I couldn't remember everyone…." Ash looked down at his hands for a moment and clenched his fists. "I… I couldn't remember…."

"Ash…?"

The boy turned his head toward the stairs to see the red-headed girl looking to him with yet another worried expression.

" _Misty_ …."

As she walked toward him slowly, Ash turned his head back down, pulling his hat over his eyes.

Misty bit her lip as she hesitantly approached the desk. Pikachu looked from Ash to Misty and back again with his ears lowered. The yellow Pokémon wasn't sure what was happening between the two, but Misty put a hand on his small head, scratching him in comfort.

Pikachu tapped Riku as he just stared at the girl in curiosity. Startled, Riku scratched behind his ear with his leg and blinked at Pikachu. The mouse Pokémon nodded his head toward the stairs and Riku simply cocked his head to one side. With Pikachu giving him an eye-roll, Riku was pulled off the desk by Pikachu and followed him down the stairs.

Watching the two Pokémon leave, Misty turned back to Ash. His fists were clenched tightly. She thought for a moment that she saw a flicker of a blue glow form, but she quickly shook the thought.

Her hand hovering over his shoulder, she whispered, "Ash…?"

That was when his shoulders started to shake, and Misty watched as a small tear hit the desk.

"I… I didn't remember…." he muttered in hardly a whisper.

Misty furrowed her eyebrows, no completely understanding him as he spoke. "You didn't _what_?"

Finally, Ash looked up at Misty with tears pouring down his cheeks. Misty was startled by his sudden movement and gaped at him. But he held his gaze looking his straight in the eyes. "I didn't _remember!_ " he shouted at last. "I didn't remember anything! I didn't remember my whole journey, only bits and pieces!" he shouted, throwing his hands up in the air. "I didn't remember all of my Pokémon! I didn't remember every battle, every gym, every League! I didn't remember my friends! I… I didn't remember, _you_ , Misty!" When he finished his rant, his looked down at the floor in front of him, unable to control himself.

Stunned by the sudden outburst of emotion, Misty watched as Ash struggled to catch his breath. Realizing how much he needed her, she put her hands on his shoulders. "Ash, you need to breathe," she said quietly but sternly.

"I… I…" he gasped out between breaths.

"Ash… I… I'm here now," she said. "I'm not gonna leave you alone."

"What… what…" he struggled to get out the thought. "What if I… if I forget?"

"Ash!" she yelled finally. Ash's eyes widened and he finally looked back up at her again. "You're not going to forget again! _I'm_ not going to forget again. I'm not leaving you again!"

Gaping at her and having finally caught his breath, Ash suddenly gripped the girl in a tight hug. Misty blinked twice before smiling and putting her arms around him too.

In the meantime, downstairs was an entirely different conversation.

"Gramps, why don't you go check on the Pokémon to make sure they're alright?" Gary suggested to the elderly professor.

"Oh no! I didn't even think of them!" he jumped up, running away from the other two, mumbling something about how he could be so forgetful.

Nick watched him go and shook her head before she saw Gary move from the couch across from her to sit next to her. Taken slightly aback at his forwardness, she stiffened slightly.

"I get the feeling that you know more about this than you let on," Gary said in a hushed tone. He cocked an eyebrow at her and leaned closer.

Raising her eyebrows at him, Nick wasn't sure what to say. "I told you everything I know about the situation to the best of my ability," she said, coldly. She wasn't thrilled with the sudden interrogation-like tension in the air.

"Look," he said quietly, still, "I don't want to seem like the bad guy here. But it was when you showed up that all of this happened. So I just need you to tell me what we don't already know."

Folding her arms, Nick explained, "I already told you everything I know. The situation isn't as simple as how I put it because we obviously don't know _why_ this is all happening now, but you all became self-aware. So I think the real issue is what _you_ know about this."

Gary Oak narrowed his eyes at the girl in front of him. Her spunk certainly reminded him of Misty, that was for sure. But there were definitely some stark contrast between the two.

The first thing he noticed was her wit compared to Misty's.

Of course, he knew that Misty was far from stupid and was definitely smart enough, herself. But Gary Oak was the type of person that identified a threat to his own intelligence when he saw it. Nick just so happened to be one of those people.

In her mind, Nick was more than just a little unnerved by the whole situation but did her best not to show it. Not only was she the only other person here that knew about Ash's inherent powers and affiliation with legendary Pokémon, but she also couldn't help but wonder why they were programmed with all of their knowledge in the first place. It was a marvel in and of itself that it hadn't been evident from the beginning and something had kept them from accessing that knowledge. Nick was more than determined to find out what that was.

Nick was careful not to let that slip because she didn't want to add to the problem or to Gary's suspicions of her that he had already.

With both of their minds running wild as they seemed to stare each other down, each was determined to read each other's thoughts.

Just then, Pikachu and Riku the Vulpix came hopping down the stairs. The two looked over to them as they bounded toward them, Pikachu jumping to Gary and Riku to Nick.

"What's the matter, Pikachu?" Gary asked him warily. Pikachu just lowered his ears and curled up on Gary's lap.

Looking down at Riku, Nick picked him up in her arms and sat him on her lap. The Vulpix seemed rather confused as to what was happening and just wagged his fluffy tail, staring at his trainer. Nick smiled gently and ruffled the small fox Pokémon's fur on his head.

Noticing this, Gary cleared his throat. "Well at least you seem to be a bit of a natural with Pokémon," he said. Nick looked up at him. "I didn't mean to be so harsh, kid. I'm just really freaked out, is all."

Nick took a breath and smiled back at Gary and then down at Riku. "Honestly, I get it. I'm the odd one out here, and you're just worried about everyone else with all of this going on." She smoothed Riku's fur and he seemed to smile into her touch. "Thank you though… I really have loved Pokémon for a long time."

Gary just nodded, not quite understanding what she meant by that.

Luckily, Nick clarified. "When the whole Pokémon thing started, I was too young to understand the games. So I watched the show with you, Ash, Misty, Brock…." Gary scratched his neck, remembering how he acted back then. "And when I was old enough, I started playing the games. So I guess I just really got to know Pokémon well enough from the outside."

It was a little unsettling to Gary how someone he'd never met before had watched him and his friends throughout their life. But it was strange in a way how Nick cared so much for something that she didn't really experience herself. She didn't really even know them, yet here she was, trying to calm the situation and get through it the best she could.

That struck a chord with Gary.

Nick smiled down at Riku as she explained her side of the situation. But then something occurred to her that she hadn't realized sooner.

Setting Riku in front of her, she swiped across the air in front of her, pulling up a transparent menu.

"What's that?" Gary asked, furrowing his eyebrows at her.

"It's the player's menu," she explained, scrolling through various options. "It allows me to explore the world to an extent."

Gary nodded slightly. He saw Nick bite her bottom lip in confusion.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"I… it's nothing," she said, starting to scroll through the menu a little more frantically, now.

Gary narrowed his eyes. "You're lying."

"It doesn't affect you guys at all, just me," she explained briefly. "It's nothing to worry about."

Noticing her voice rising and how fast she was looking through the same options over and over again, Gary leaned closer and put a hand on her shoulder. Nick jumped at the touch and looked from his hand back to him. "Nick…. What's wrong?"

Sighing, she swiped left to close the menu. "There's no log out button."

"What does that mean?" Gary asked.

"I thought maybe I could leave to give you guys some space… go back to where I'm from to let you all cool down for a bit," she offered rather calmly down. "But I can't."

"You mean you're stuck here?"

"Do you have any other ideas about how to leave the game?"

At that, Gary let his hand fall from Nick's shoulder. "No… I don't…." Nick sighed but didn't seem all that frustrated by the new issue.

"Maybe it's just a sign that I need to help you guys," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "We can figure this out later."

Gary wasn't all that convinced that she wasn't worried about the problem, but he decided that the distraction of everything else going on would be enough to keep her calm. "Thank you," he said.

Nick gave him a small smile in return.

"Good news," Professor Oak said, walking back into the room. "The Pokémon seem to be fine. Most of them didn't really know anything was happening."

"What about those that did?" Nick jumped at the question Gary was about to ask.

"It's tough to say, but some of the more intelligent Pokémon came right up to me as if asking what had happened. Others seemed to go about their business." The professor looked around the room briefly before asking, "Where's Misty?"

"She went upstairs to check on Ash," Gary admitted. "It must be hard for her to realize what they went through and how long they've been apart."

"Why don't we go check on them?" he suggested. Nick and Gary looked to each and nodded to the professor.

The three made their way upstairs to the two people in question with the small Pokémon following quickly behind them.

Seeing that Ash was awake, the professor walked over to the desk. "How are you feeling, Ash?"

Misty and Ash exchanged a glance before turning back to the professor. "Really sore," he admitted, holding his stomach with one hand.

"I gave him the ice pack once he calmed down," Misty told Gary. "He drank some water, but his head still hurts too."

"Ashy-boy," Gary said, stepping closer, "you've gotta keep drinking to keep up your strength."

Growling slightly at the quip, Ash nodded. "I am."

"At least everything has calmed down a bit," the professor observed. "Now then…. Umm, Nick?" he said, turning to her. Her eyes widened slightly. "How about we give you the rest of your belongings then?"

Nick looked to Ash and Misty who both gave her encouraging smiles. She then looked to Gary who nodded. She finally smiled back at the professor. "If that's alright with you."

"Certainly!" he exclaimed. He walked over to a table with a variety of equipment. Standing behind it, Professor Oak picked up six Pokéballs. "The one is Riku's," he said, holding out one specifically. Nick took it gently and then collected the other five, clipping them to the belt the game had rendered onto her clothes. "Now then," he continued. "Please choose from one of the following." A window opened in front of her, revealing a variety of bags of various trainers. Nick scrolled through before choosing a white backpack. The window closed upon touching the image, and the bag appeared on Nick's shoulder.

"Splendid! Moving on," he continued. "Please choose from one of the following." Then he gestured to the table in front of him. Six different designs of the Pokedex sat on the table before Nick. Without much hesitation, she choose a sleek, flip design. "Ah! That one comes from the Sinnoh region! Excellent choice."

Upon picking it up, the Pokedex disappeared in a mist of sparkles, and a window appeared in front of Nick which read, "Pokedex option added to the menu."

"Finally," Professor Oak said, "you may choose one of these." Reaching under the table and placing a briefcase on top, he clicked it open, and revealed a variety of gadgets. "Each of these has unique features that should help you on your journey. I can explain what they do if you need help."

Looking in the briefcase, Nick saw a Pokegear, PokeNav, Poketch, and Xtransceiver. Nick picked up the blue Xtransceiver and locked it in place on her wrist. "Very good! The number of the lab, Ash, and Misty are already programmed onto the device." Professor Oak said. Nick turned and saw that Misty now had an orange one and Ash a red one. Gary wore the laboratory's which was purple.

"So Nick," Ash said, hopping down from the desk. He stumbled slightly but straightened quickly. "What kind of journey do you want to go on?"

"Do you like a certain type of Pokémon?" Misty asked.

"Or do you want to go after Gym badges?" Ash asked. "There's a ton of different options to choose from."

"I want to be a trainer," Nick said simply. "I'm not really sure what I really want just yet, but I know I want to become strong and challenge the Pokémon Leagues!"

"That's great," Gary replied, folding his arms. "All you have to do now is get the eight badges before the Indigo League."

"See," Professor Oak began. "Every trainer starts their journey on the first of April following their tenth birthday in the Kanto region. You're obviously an exception, but other regions have various League seasons. The Indigo League competition begins on March first of next year."

"She'll get there in no time," Ash said with a thumbs up. "We'll help her train along the way, isn't that right, Pikachu?"

The little yellow Pokémon smiled. "Pik-a-chu!"

"And I can give you pointers on defeating gyms," Misty added. "You'll be up against some of the best gym leaders, so you've gotta be ready for them," she said with a wink.

"And you're going to need to learn how to survive, of course," Gary added. "But I'll be just a call away if you have any trouble," he said, tapping his Xtransceiver.

"And if you ever want to change your mind about what you want to do," the professor said, "you can always try a Pokémon Contest or collect similar Pokémon."

At his words, a window popped up in front of Nick. On the left, there were three glowing blue dots. On the right, there were seven options: Trainer, Breeder, Type Specialist, Ranger, Coordinator, Performer, and Researcher. The bottom read, "Please select where to place your points."

Nick clicked on the Trainer option three times. A window popped up that read, "Trainer Capture Rate Increased, Trainer Endurance Increased, and Attack/Special Attack Increased."

Nick looked to Gary. "Does attack increasing mean what I think it does?"

Gary nodded. "Each of the paths to choose from will give you bonus stats to yourself and your Pokémon. So now Riku and all other Pokémon you capture will have an increased attack and special attack stat."

"So does that mean you guys have classes, too?" she asked.

Gary nodded again. "Ashy-boy is a Trainer, like you. Misty is a Type Specialist in Water. I am considered a Researcher like my Grandpa."

"That makes sense," she replied. "So… am I just supposed to go?" she asked with a shrug.

Professor Oak laughed. "You _can_ ," he said simply, "but I think it would be wise to allow Ash and Misty to choose what Pokémon they would like to bring with them on your journey."

Nick scratched the back of her head. "That would make sense."

"Misty, why don't you go on over to the computer with Gary to collect your Pokémon from the Cerulean City Gym? Ash, why don't you take Nick outside with me to collect your Pokémon as well?"

Misty and Ash glanced at each other before Ash replied. "Right!" He walked over to Nick and put a hand on her shoulder. "It's time for you to meet everyone." He beamed down at her and she smiled back up at him.

As the three of them walked back downstairs with Pikachu and Riku following behind, Gary turned to Misty.

"Before we do that," he said, "would you mind telling me why the whole 'AI and not being real' thing doesn't seem to faze you at all?"

At that, Misty's eyes widened slightly. She bit her lip in response, not having realized her apathy was that obvious. "Honestly, it doesn't really bother me," she said, cocking her head to the side. "I mean, we've been living in this non-existent world and yet we can remember all we've ever been through for the first time…. I'm happy."

Gary Oak watched her explain how she felt about the situation. He wasn't convinced that he should feel the same, but yet again, he had had much less of an adventurous life than Ash Ketchum and Misty. He didn't know which part bothered him more: that he had become essentially a forgotten character or that he wasn't real at all.

Gary simply nodded to her in acknowledgement and sat in his desk chair. Wheeling it closer to the computer with the Pokéball transporter, he logged in and called the Cerulean City Gym.

"Gary Oak! What a surprise!" Daisy cooed at the other end. "And my darling sister! I like, totally thought she was into Ketchum, but I guess this works too!"

Gary and Misty exchanged a look, both of them blushing. Gary pushed his glasses back onto his face and shut his eyes. He continued, "So Daisy, I guess you're also suddenly aware of everything going on?"

"Yeah, most definitely!" she practically yelled. "Tracy just stopped by out of nowhere too!"

"That's… surprising," Misty commented. "Anyway… Daisy, I need some of my Pokémon." She straightened up before saying sternly, "I'm going on another journey with Ash."

Daisy clasped her hands together. "So you _do_ still like that little kid! I'm totally not surprised!"

"Daisy!" Misty yelled.

"Well, duh, of course I'll send them to you. Who do you need?"

At that, Misty's jaw dropped. "What about the Gym?" In the time that Misty had been absent from Ash's journey, she had remembered that she had been the primary Gym Leader and had largely taken care of the Pokémon there herself. More recently, she had taught Daisy, Violet, and Lily how to battle properly. And though they had proven to be pretty good at it, none of them seemed all too thrilled to take part in battles.

"Of course we'll be able to handle the Gym! In fact, Tracy and I were just talking and he was thinking about helping out with training the Pokémon with us!"

Misty blinked before continued. "Wow… I… thank you…." Misty wanted to admit how much it really meant to her, but she felt that Daisy probably understood what it meant to her.

"Hiya, Misty!" Tracy said, coming up behind Daisy. "I must have just missed you!"

Misty scratched her neck. "Uh, yeah, I guess so…." She looked to Gary, knowing that they were probably unaware of the extent of the situation they were in.

"Who do you want us to send to you?" Tracy asked.

Misty thought for a moment. "I have to have Gyarados and Azumarill," she began.

Tracy smiled. "My Marill always got along with your Azurill as a baby. She'll definitely be missed! Who else?"

"I want Starmie, Kingdra, and Corsola too."

Tracy nodded. "Good choices. You went through a lot with them. One more."

Misty scratched her chin. She had to decide between a few more Pokémon she had grown close with over the years… the years she only recently had remembered. Then a thought came to her. It was time to make memories that she won't forget now.

"I want to bring Golduck." she said. "I want to give him a chance to train in the real world and not just in a Gym." Misty mentally rolled her eyes and briefly thought about how helpful he was as a Psyduck.

"I'm sure he'll be excited!" Tracy encouraged. "I'll go grab them now."

Outside of the laboratory, Nick was staring in awe at the field before her.

There were hundreds of Pokémon roaming the grasses, the skies, the trees and the lake around the laboratory. The cries of the Pokémon could be heard for a few miles, and the freedom the Pokémon felt being there was evident in their playing.

"Come on!" Ash said, reaching for Nick's hand. "I want you to meet my friends."

Nick smiled gently and took Ash's hand. He ran out to the field, Nick running behind him – struggling to keep up with the much taller boy – and called out, "I'm back everyone!"

The first Pokémon to notice was Bayleef. She sprinted over from where she was rested next to Charizard and tackled Ash to the ground. Charizard seemed to roll his eyes before slowly making his way over.

Soon, Bulbasaur, Infernape, Sceptile, and all of the Tauros with Ash's other Pokémon came stampeding toward him with Ash just laughing the entire time.

Nick shook her head, laughing at the scene, but took in all of the Pokémon in front of her. She was amazed at how many Pokémon really loved Ash for who he was, and he made her feel a sense of pride. In a way, she had watched Ash grow as a real trainer, and wasn't surprised at how much they all enjoyed being around him so much.

From the trees outside of the fences surrounding the laboratory, three pairs of eyes were fixated on the scene through binoculars.

"That's the twerp, alright," said a cat-like Pokémon.

"Is that the girl?" A blue-haired man asked quietly.

The red-headed woman beside him glanced down at her tablet. An image of said girl was on the screen. "That's the one," she confirmed.

"What is it that the boss needs _her_ for?" the Pokémon inquired.

"It's simple," the woman replied, "she is the key to figuring out what happened in this world. She might have even caused it. And the twerp…." she trailed off.

"Well, we know the boss has always wanted Pikachu," the man said.

"Doesn't he always get into some kind of trouble with the legendary Pokémon too?" the Pokémon added.

"And that's likely why the boss has finally decided to capture _him_ instead of just that stupidly powerful Pikachu." the woman replied.

Narrowing her binoculars on the girl, she watched as a shiny Vulpix jumped into her arms. "Getting the two of them will mean some serious perks this time."


	4. Nick Catches a Pokemon

Nick Catches a Pokémon

As Nick shook her head, laughing at Ash's Pokémon tackle him, she heard a faint "Vul!" behind her. She turned to face Riku who was wagged his fluffy tail. She smiled and bent down, holding out her hands to him as he jumped up into her arms.

Nick hugged the warm little fox-like Pokémon close. He nuzzled his face into Nick's chin and she gladly smoothed his fur. "I'm so happy to have found you." she whispered.

Looking back to Ash, she saw that some of his Pokémon were letting him up. She stepped closer and said, "So Ash," and he turned to face her, standing up and dusting himself off, "which Pokémon are you taking with you?"

Ash put a hand to his chin. He knew that this wasn't his turn to go on a journey. This time was about his new friend. He also knew that he wanted to go to protect her. What Pokémon he chose would definitely have an impact on how well he could.

He looked up to his Pokémon surrounding him, some patiently waiting while others began to walk away. The first Pokémon he eyed leaning against a tree with his arms folded was Charizard.

"Charizard!" he called. The large dragon-like Pokémon opened an eye. "You ready for another adventure?"

The Pokémon stared at him for a moment before letting out a snort and nodding his head. He flapped his powerful wings, sending a powerful gust of air toward Ash and Nick as he landed in front of them. He lowered his head slightly so Ash could reach him and he patted his head smiling.

Looking back to Nick, he waved for her to come closer. She stepped forward slowly, looking up at the Pokémon before her. "Charizard," he said, "this is our new friend, Nick. She's going on her first journey!"

Charizard titled his head slightly, eyeing the girl and the Vulpix in front of him. Nick stood frozen, both awed and intimidated by the sheer size of him. Charizard let out a low growl as an introduction, and lowered his head to her level. Looking down at him with eyes wide, Nick just blinked. She looked to Ash for reassurance, and he had his arms folded and nodded encouragement. Nick reached out with her free hand and stroked the Charizard's head. Warm to the touch, much like Vulpix, he was smooth on his head, and felt like solid muscle. Charizard then picked up his head and smiled warmly at her, and Nick smiled back.

Looking around, Ash eyed a particular Pokémon.

"Oshawott?"

The Formidable Pokemon glanced up from where he was swimming in the water. When he noticed Ash, his eyes lit up and he came bounding out of the water, shaking off as he went. He eventually came to Ash and nuzzled his head into Ash's chest.

"You must have been training really hard when I was in Kalos, huh buddy?"

Samurott nodded his head vigorously and held up a sword-like scalchop from one of his legs triumphantly.

"Do you want to come on a journey with me again?"

At this, Samurott's eyes seemed to water for a brief moment before he put his sword away and threw himself at Ash again. Ash let out a chuckle and pet the large Pokémon's head.

Nick looked around at the rest of Ash's Pokémon, trying to guess who else he would ask to come on their journey.

Suddenly, from a tree above them, a loudly howling could be heard and the branches shook. Jumping down, Infernape landed in front of the two of them, and Nick took a small step back as he pounded his chest. Riku growled a little bit under his breath.

"Infernape," Ash said to him, "would you like to come with us?" The large monkey Pokémon nodded and yelped in excitement.

Looking to Nick, he nodded his head and smiled warmed at her, leaning forward. Nick carefully reached out to pet his head. His fur was warm and soft as she ran her hand through it, and he looked back up at her, beaming. She smiled back at him. "Nice to meet you," she said softly.

Ash looked around carefully, not seeing the Pokémon he was thinking of next. "Where's Sceptile?" he asked the others. All of them shook their heads. He looked to Nick. "Come on! He's probably somewhere further out already."

With Nick jogging to keep up, Ash ran down the hill looking for Sceptile. "There he is!" he said pointing down.

Nick followed where he was pointing and couldn't help but smile. Sceptile was leaning forward and letting some of the baby Pokémon slide down his back and off of his tail with a twig still in his mouth.

"Sceptile!" he called out. The Pokémon turned to face Ash, the Zigzagoon on his tail toppled off of him. Shaking his head at the little Pokémon, Sceptile leaned down and picked up the Zigzagoon, placing him on his paws on the ground. Sceptile then ran over to Ash and nodded to him and Nick.

Nick then looked to Ash. "You have one more since you're already taking Pikachu," she said.

Ash looked to Nick and shook his head. "I have to catch at least one Pokémon on a journey, right? I mean…" he scratched the back of his head, "as long as you don't want it…."

Nick chuckled a little. "Ash, of course you can catch Pokémon too. I'm excited to see what you get!"

Ash seemed to let go of breath he'd been holding. "Alright everybody! Return!" he called, holding out the four Pokeballs.

Three beams of red light shot forward and encased Greninja, Sceptile, and Infernape, making them go into their Pokeballs. Charizard let out a roar of protest.

Ash furrowed his eyebrows and looked to him. "Is there something wrong, Charizard?"

Out of the corner of her eye, Nick saw a Pokémon hiding behind a tree. Slowly, she walked over to the tree and reached her hand out. "It's alright," she said quietly, "I won't hurt you. Are you one of Ash's Pokémon?"

Riku jumped down from Nick's arms and called out, "Vul!" in encouragement.

Coming out behind the tree, Bayleef whimpered a "Bay…." She had her head lowered as she stepped out, and Charizard landed next to them, Ash running behind him.

"Bayleef…?" Ash said. He kneeled down in front of her. "Are you hurt?"

The grass type Pokémon shook her head and looked down at the ground. Charizard stepped forward and let Bayleef nuzzle her head into Charizard's neck.

"What's going on with you two?" Ash asked.

Nick put a hand on Ash's shoulder. Looking to her, Nick whispered to Ash, "I think Bayleef will miss Charizard."

"Oh…!" Ash said, slowly realizing what was happening. He turned his attention back to Bayleef. "Is that what's wrong?"

"Bay! Bayleef!" she called out, shaking her head.

Nick and Ash looked to each other and back to the two Pokémon. "Well if that's not it," Nick started, "then what's wrong?"

Bayleef and Charizard exchanged glances for a moment before Bayleef retreated behind the tree again. A moment later, Bayleef appeared nudging something with her nose.

Ash gasped. "It's an egg!"

Riku sprinted over and sniffed it. He jumped up and down a few times, yelping.

Nick looked to Ash and said, "Rightfully, that egg is yours, isn't it?"

Ash blinked a few times. "So Charizard and Bayleef had an egg together…?" he said, still stunned. Finally, he leaned forward and picked up the egg in his hands. It was mostly a bright orange with a yellowish-beige color at the top. He studied it for a moment before clutching it to his chest.

"Congratulations, Ash!" Nick said. "It looks like it's a Charmander egg!"

Ash looked at the egg, a little deflated. He pursed his lips, trying to find the words. "Bayleef," he said. "Did you want me to take this egg with me?" Bayleef nodded and smiled at him. He looked down at the egg and shook his head. "I don't think I can right now," he said carefully. Bayleef lowered her head and Charizard snorted.

"Ash…" Nick said slowly, "why don't you want to take it with you?"

"I just don't think it's right," he started. "See, I already have Charizard, and he's coming with me on our journey too. I'd have two of the same exact Pokémon at one time. And you know how that turned out with Tauros…." he said, sheepishly.

Nick nodded. She understood what he meant. Having two Pokémon of the same kind could really be a disadvantage to him, but then he'd also have to divert his attention from training his other Pokémon to raise an egg and train it once it hatched. It was a lot of responsibility to hold on to an egg right now.

"Hey," Nick started, "what if I took the egg?" Bayleef and Charizard looked up at her and their eyes widened. She turned to them. "How would you feel if I took the egg with me?"

They both smiled at Nick. She turned to Ash. "What do you think?"

"Hmm…" He pondered the thought before saying anything. "The thing is, an egg is a lot of work. And your journey is just starting…. So to have an egg with you as soon as-"

Just then, the egg in Ash's arms began to flash a white light.

"Is it hatching?" Nick yelped. Riku ran up to Ash with Pikachu and the two jumped in delight.

Ash carefully bent down on the ground as the entire egg began to glow in a bright white light. Nick and Ash shielded their eyes until the light died down, and what was left was a very small Charmander, curled up with its tail. Opening its eyes, the small Pokémon let out a little yawn with a groan. Looking around, the Pokémon eyed its parents and smiled.

Nick kneeled down in front of the Charmander. He looked back up at her and cocked his head to the side. "Hi there," she said softly. "I'm Nick."

Immediately after ending her sentence, the small lizard-like Pokémon leapt into Nick's arms, nuzzling its head into the crook of her neck. Slightly startled by his reaction, Nick carefully ran a hand along the Charmander's head, feeling its smooth, warm skin.

"Was that an egg?" Nick and Ash both turned to where the voice was coming from to see Professor Oak, Gary and Misty running to them.

"Yeah!" Ash said excitedly, "Charizard and Bayleef had an egg!"

"It's a Charmander!" Gary said quickly. He stepped forward, making Nick jump slightly at the sudden closeness. He scratched the Pokémon's head before examining his eyes, mouth, skin and the rest of him. Nodding his head, Gary took off his glasses and stepped back. "It's certainly a healthy boy," he commented. "A little small though." At that, Charmander shot out a small puff of smoke at Gary, making him cough and sputter slightly. "Yep," he said between coughs, "he knows Smokescreen."

"Ash," Misty began, "are you taking him with you?"

Ash looked from Charmander to Nick, seeing tears well up in the small Pokémon's eyes. Finally, he made a decision. He shook his head. "I think Nick should battle Charmander."

Nick's eyes widened and she looked from Charmander to Ash. "But he's yours…."

Ash shook his head again. "This Charmander wants you for a trainer. I think you should have your first battle with Riku. He could be your first catch!"

Nick blinked before looking down to Charmander. "Is that what you want?"

Charmander nodded and let out a small, "Char! Char!"

Riku pawed at Nick's leg and she looked down at her Pokémon to see him wagging his fluffy tail.

"I guess it's settled then," Nick said with a small shrug. "I'll battle Charmander!" She set Charmander on the ground, and Riku, Charmander and Pikachu all began to chat idly.

"I can show you where the battle field is," Gary suggested.

Nick nodded and smiled, waving on the little Pokémon to which they all started to run along. Professor Oak walked in front of Gary and Nick, but as they were leaving, Nick looked over her shoulder to Ash to thank him. But before she could say anything, she clasped her mouth shut.

Catching a faint blue glow on both of Ash's clenched fists, Nick bit her lip. Misty was standing right there, staring at Ash as he stared into the distance. The moment was tense – Nick knew that – and it seemed like Misty had a burning question for Ash, not noticing his hands.

"Misty!" Nick called out finally. She jogged back over to where the two were standing, and she noted that Ash unclenched his fists and the light faded as both their heads snapped to Nick. "Why don't you come with me? You can help me since you're good with water types-" Nick said, cutting herself off. She recovered and said, "I mean, you're good against fire types so maybe you can give me some tips!"

Misty blinked and then smiled with confidence. Pumping her fist up, she said, "Of course I can! You'll win in the blink of an eye!" Ash seemed to smirk at this and Misty noticed. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing!" he said, holding up his hands. "It's just that you didn't exactly do too hot when you used Brock's Vulpix in that contest…."

Misty grunted and Ash let out a small snicker before rubbing his hand behind his head. Nick took the opportunity to have an idea. "Hey Ash?" she asked. He looked to her before she asked, "Would you mind grabbing us some water? I think we all could use a drink before our battle…."

Ash pursed his lips for a minute before his eyes widened. "Oh, uh… yeah! Come on Pikachu! Let's get everyone some water!" Pikachu replied with a small cheer and the two ran off back to the lab.

Nick let out a small sigh of relief so that Misty wouldn't notice and looked back after Ash.

 _I hope he's alright…._ she thought to herself.

Running back to the lab, Ash clenched his eyes shut. This was the last thing he needed now.

Slamming the door shut behind him, the teenager was panting in a desperate attempt to catch his breath. He put a hand over his chest and heaved in and out.

"Pika? Pikapi?" Pikachu asked, his ears flat to his head.

After a few deep breaths, Ash replied, "It's alright, buddy." He breathed a sigh of relief before looking down at his outstretched hands. The blue light began to fade again, and Ash clenched his teeth. "I just don't want Misty… or anyone else to know."

Pikachu gave him a worried expression but nodded anyway. The two walked down the hallway toward the kitchen. Pikachu hopped up on the counter and held out a glass for Ash to fill. Instead of filling more glasses, he chugged down the water with a sigh of relief.

"Ash…?"

Nearly dropping the glass, Ash spun around to see Nick standing in the doorway rubbing one her arms. She was biting her lip and Riku was at her side.

"Pika! Pika, pi pika!" Pikachu squeaked out at her. Nick furrowed her eyebrows not quite understanding and Pikachu lowered his ears.

"Ah, he's just a little worried is all," Ash said quietly. Rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and looking out the window, he added, "You know?"

Nick stepped forward and rubbed Pikachu's head, Riku hopping up next to him on the counter. "Yeah…. I mean, with the show and movies and all of that…."

Ash sighed and rubbed his face with his hand as he refilled the glass at the sink. "I haven't seen Misty in years and now I suddenly come home with these powers…. How am I supposed to tell her? What is she going to think?" He pulled his hat down to cover his eyes.

Nick leaned on the counter, tracing circles on the surface with her finger, her chin in the other hand. "I think she'll be worried about you."

"You think she'll be mad at me?"

Nick looked up at him. "Has she seemed mad since everything that's already happened?"

Ash just shrugged his shoulders. "Unless she's smacking me on the head, she's hard to read." He shook his head before taking another drink and setting the glass on the counter. "How can anyone understand… _this_?" He held out his hands for Nick to see, and they began to glow a faint blue and green again. Pikachu lowered his head.

"She's your best friend," Nick insisted. "If Brock, May, and Max helped you with it back then, don't you think Misty would understand? She's probably really worried about you."

"But they're not here right now!" he said, throwing his hands in the air. Startled, Nick's eyes widened. His hat lifted above his eyes again. "They were there when I was told about them, so of course they get it! Misty wasn't! I've been missing for years on top of that! What am I supposed to do?"

"Ash," Nick said firmly, "I _was_ there. You didn't know it, but I watched when all of that happened to you. I _know_ that your disappearing was not your choice!" Now it was Ash's turn to be startled. "You may have just met me, Ash, but I _know_ you! I've _been_ here for you the whole time, watching you go on your journey, wishing I could come with you all these years! If Misty doesn't believe that, then damn it, I'll convince her myself!" Nick slammed her fist down on the counter, knocking over the glass of water.

Pikachu and Riku looked from Ash to Nick and back again, not knowing what to do. Nick was angry. She was angry at the circumstances and the choices Ash was never allowed to make. She was angry that she had to sit back and watch for all those years. She was angry that Misty was pushed aside. And worst of all, Ash felt guilty for all of it when it wasn't his fault, and she couldn't stand it anymore.

Of course, she voiced none of this. She seethed, standing at the table, not losing eye contact with the boy in front of her as if willing him to believe every word she _had_ said. Staring blankly, Ash finally looked up at her. "Why?"

Nick blinked. "Why?" she repeated.

"Why? Why are you here? Why do you feel so badly about how hurt I am? Why did you want to come on my journey with me?"

At that, Nick had to stop. She had been so dedicated to it all for so long, she hadn't ever stopped to think about why. Opening her mouth she said slowly, "It's the only constant in my life…. _You're_ the only constant in my life." She looked away from him then, gripping the edge of the counter tightly.

It was then that Ash noticed how long the girl's hair was, nearly to her waist. He noticed the way her eyes seemed to blaze when she was angry with him. He noticed how strongly she felt about what she believed in.

He realized that she was just like him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Nick's head snapped back to him, and she opened her mouth to speak but he continued. "I'm sorry that you got involved in this. I'm sorry that you're hurting. And I'm sorry that I need help."

Finally, Nick pulled herself away from the counter and stepped closer to Ash, looking at the floor. He watched her, unsure, until she finally – but slowly – wrapped her arms around him. His breath caught at the sudden gesture, but soon enough, he put a hand on her head and the other on her back.

"Please… don't be sorry," she whispered. "I want to help you… any way I can. You'll get through this. I'm here for you, and Misty will be too."

One, then two, then a few more fell onto Nick's head. She pulled back slightly and felt her head: tears. She let her arms fall to her sides and Ash pulled back. He wiped his arm across his face and sniffed before looking back to her. "Thank you, Nick."

Once again stunned by the situation, Nick just gave a small smile and a nod.

"Come on," he said, grabbing a few more glasses, Pikachu following suit. "We've gotta get everyone some water so you can start your first battle!"

Nick went to cabinet and helped Pikachu grab some glasses, handing them to Ash to fill. Between the three of them – plus Riku carrying a water bowl for the Pokémon – they carried everything outside. Nick took notice of the way Ash eyed Misty but mostly kept up a happy façade. She bit her bottom lip.

Misty took no notice of this though and walked over to take a glass from Ash. Startled, he nearly dropped the glass trying to pull his hand away as her hand brushed against his. Misty pulled back as well, blushing slightly.

Gary coughed and stepped over to Nick, taking a glass for himself and Professor Oak. He nodded to Nick and smiled. She gave him a small smile in return before taking a drink herself and looking down to Riku and Charmander.

"Are you two ready?" she asked, bending down to talk to them. The two Pokémon eyed each other before looking back to Nick. She stood up, brushing her hair back over her shoulder. Riku puffed out his tail while Charmander wagged his own. Nick then turned to Professor Oak. "I think we're ready to go!"

"Alright!" he said, gesturing to the field marked on the ground in front of them. "Nick will stand in this trainer box," he said, pointing to the ground next to him, "Riku will stand in front of Nick, and Charmander will start over there across the line. On my mark, the battle will start!"

Misty, Ash and Gary stood on the sidelines toward the middle of the field while Professor Oak stood opposite them. Nick looked from her new friends to her partner to a potential new teammate. She took a deep breath and then clenched her fist.

"Battle… begin!"

"Riku, jump and use Tail Whip!" Nick called out, pumping her fist forward.

The Vulpix before her immediately launched himself as high as he could jump into the air before falling down toward Charmander, his tail glowing and fanned out in front of him.

The opposing Pokémon was quick to act, rolling to one side as Riku nearly hit the ground.

"Switch into Ember!" Nick yelled.

Riku didn't hesitate to follow orders, releasing a burst of flames toward the ground and billowing out, hitting Charmander. The small lizard Pokémon toppled over but recovered quickly.

"Did she just make Riku switch moves halfway through the air?!" Gary yelled.

"Yeah!" Ash exclaimed. "That's such a cool strategy to fake out your opponent!"

"Where did she learn to think like that?" Misty asked aloud.

"It would appear that she's certainly done her homework!" the professor called to them.

Drawing its claws, Charmander charged forward using Slash, and Riku braced himself until Nick gave a command.

"Now! Use Hypnosis!"

Riku let out a low, echoing howl at Charmander, but he was able to jump out of the way in time to land an attack on Riku's head.

"Riku!" she yelled. "You okay?" Riku had taken the blow with as much grace as could be managed from a head injury and quickly rolled onto his feet. He looked back to Nick with a smirk, and she smiled back at him.

"Keep fighting!" Misty called out. "Charmander isn't going to stop!"

As if on cue, Charmander breathed out a black smoke too thick to see through. Riku was just outside of the cloud but Charmander was nowhere to be seen.

"Keep an eye out for him!" Ash called, "He could be anywhere in that smoke!"

Riku stood his ground, waiting for a command from Nick.

"What is she doing?" Gary pondered. "If she makes Riku sit still, he'll get hit again."

With that, Charmander came crashing down from inside the smoke aiming at Riku, belly-first.

"That's Body Slam!" Misty yelped.

"He must have gotten it from Bayleef!" Ash said.

"That's a powerful move," Gary added.

"Roll forward!" Nick yelled.

To everyone's utter astonishment, Riku rolled forward underneath the blow of Body Slam as Charmander touched down on the ground.

"Tackle!" Nick called.

Riku got to his feet again and sprinted toward Charmander to make another attempt at getting in a hit. But Charmander then became encased in fire, making Riku grind to a halt.

"That's Charmander's ability, Blaze," Gary said. "He's stronger when low on health."

"What's Riku's ability?" Misty asked.

Gritting his teeth, Riku looked up to the sky, stretching up on his hind legs. Overhead, the sun blazed down on group, making everyone shield their eyes.

"Drought," Gary replied with a smile.

"Isn't that going to help Charmander too?" Ash asked.

"Exactly," Gary said, "but I think Nick knows that anyway."

"Huh…." Ash mused. The three of them looked back to the ongoing battle as Riku took a hit from Charmander's Ember.

"Tail Whip!" Nick called, and Riku was able to rush forward quick enough to land the move, Charmander visibly uncomfortable. "Tackle him while you're close!" Riku then flipped over and rushed into Charmander delivering a solid hit to his stomach. "Finally, use Ember!"

With Charmander knocked on his side, Riku took a deep breath and fired out a barrage of tiny flames. They grew in size from the sun's rays as they traveled, colliding with the Pokémon and knocking him out.

Ash and Misty cheered Nick on, Gary giving her a satisfied nod as she looked to them all for approval. Grabbing a Pokeball from her belt, Nick looked down, clicking the button on the ball. Drawing her arm back, she hurled the ball sideways at the defeated Pokémon. Hitting him on the back, the ball popped open, encasing Charmander in red before his form retreated into the ball as it closed. The ball dropping to the ground, Nick held her breath even so, as it wiggled back and forth three times before an audible click was heard and the button turned from red to white.

"Riku! We did it! Our first Pokémon!" Nick yelped. The small fox Pokémon gave a little bark and ran into Nick's arms. She picked him up, petting his fur before walking over and picking up the Pokeball, looking down at it for a moment before breathing a sigh of relief and clicking it to her belt.

"Great job, Nick!" Ash said as the three teens ran over to her.

"That was some great battling," Gary complimented with his arms folded. "You're pretty creative."

Nick twirled a piece of hair around her finger and waved them off with the other hand. "Oh, it wasn't that great…."

Misty put a hand on Nick shoulder and looked at her more seriously. "You're smart; it'll take you far." And then she smiled at her.

"Thanks guys," Nick said.

"Now that you've caught your first Pokémon," Professor Oak said, walking over, "it's about time you start on your journey, isn't it?"

Nick bit her bottom lip and nodded. "I guess you're right. Are you ready, Riku?"

He wagged his tail and nodded, looking up at Nick from her arms.

"Don't worry," Ash said confidently. "Misty and I will be right there with you. Right Mist?"

Misty nodded. "We're bringing nothing but the strongest to help you."

"And we're just a phone call away," Gary added with a wink.

Nick set Riku on the ground, and he ran to Pikachu immediately. Nick picked up her backpack and looked to Ash and Misty. "Are you guys ready?" Both of them nodded. "Then I guess we're off!"

As the three of them walked down the hill of Professor Oak's lab, Gary and the professor waved goodbye.

"You think they'll be alright?" Professor Oak asked.

Gary simply nodded. "She's got spunk."

"And talent to boot."

"I just hope that doesn't give them any trouble."

"Her spunk?"

"No, her talent," Gary corrected. "Normally, she'd be in a world catered to her," he elaborated. "But now, with the people and Pokémon of this world becoming entirely independent of the system, people will seek her out as a challenge."

"I see," Professor Oak mused. "Do you know if there has been any word on the Teams as of late?"

"Not that I'm aware of. I'm going to have to do some research and keep in close contact with Nick just in case…. It's our job to help her, after all."

"It's our job to help with her Pokémon, yes. But now you're getting invested in her journey."

Gary furrowed his eyebrows at his grandfather before turning back to see the three others leave their sight. "Invested? No. Concerned for my friends? Yes." And with that, Gary Oak turned and walked back inside.

Meanwhile, another teenage girl in the Sinnoh region was watching a Pokémon Contest about to begin.

The girl with long brown hair at the sides of her head frantically looked around the stadium. She was waiting for someone in particular to show, but was nowhere in sight as of late. She finally looked down to the Glaceon sitting poised in her lap. "Where is he? He said he would show, didn't he?"

Glaceon seemed to shrug her shoulders before licking her paw. The girl sighed and rolled eyes. "You're so helpful."

She leaned forward in her seat from the balcony and eyed the judges' table. "I can see Nurse Joy! And Mr. Contesta! And there's Drew!" she said, eyeing the green-haired judge beside Nurse Joy.

"Hello, everyone! Welcome to the Veilstone City Pokémon Contest! Today, I am your host, Marian! We have many talented trainers competing here today! But before we enter round one, allow me to introduce our judges!"

"May."

The brown-haired girl whipped her head toward the aisle to see the person she had been looking for.

"Paul! You made it!" she said, clasping her hands together. "It's been too long."

The purple haired teen sat beside May and looked out over the stage. "I didn't miss her, did I?"

"Just made it! She's the first one up!"

"And for our first contestant…" Marian called out, "It's Dawn!"

On the stage, the curtains parted, and a young coordinator dressed in an ice-blue dress ran out. She waved her hand as the fans cheered, clearly a fan-favorite.

"There she is!" May called. "Knock em dead, Dawn!" she yelled, nearly making Glaceon fall off her lap.

Paul straightened at the sight of her. It had been nearly three years since he'd last seen her. He had never watched one before, and to see Dawn dressed so differently from her usual style was something new.

"Jeeze," May commented, and Paul stiffened, "don't drool," she said with a wink. Paul rolled her eyes and scoffed at her. May just giggled and gave him a light punch on the shoulder. "Relax… I know you guys are friends, but doesn't she look amazing?"

"Lopunny!" Dawn called out. "Spotlight!" She threw the Pokeball with the capsule and seal, letting a large heart-shaped balloon and ribbons pour out of the Pokeball before Lopunny appeared throwing her hands in the air, doing a front-flip, and landing with grace in front of Dawn.

That was when Paul caught sight of it: a maroon Mega Stone dangling from Lopunny's neck. His eyes widened and immediately he turned his attention back to Dawn and noted the bracelet she had worn for years; there was now a Key Stone hanging from it between the two purple beads.

"I want to battle her," he said to himself.

May turned to Paul, widening her eyes. " _What?"_

 **Author's Note [7/27/16]: Hello everyone! My apologies for the delay in a new chapter! This one ended up being a lot longer than expected so hopefully it was worth the wait! Unfortunately, Nick hasn't gotten to be shown off all that much in way of the plot to set up, but I hope this chapter showed you guys a peak into her loyalty!**

 **Yes, I'm going to be doing small cameos until the other characters get added! I hope you enjoyed this one with some of my favorites all in one place!**

 **Stayed tuned for more!**


	5. A Friend in Deed

A Friend in Deed

Dusk has passed a few hours earlier, and the night air was beginning to chill the skin of each of our heroes. Nick and Misty walked alongside each other with Ash, Pikachu and Riku trailing behind, if only slightly.

"Pikapi!"

Nick and Misty turned quickly to see that Ash was doubled over, his hands on his knees, gasping for air.

"Ash!" Misty yelped and Nick's eyes widened as they ran over to Ash's side. "Ash? Are you okay?" Misty asked. "We haven't been traveling that long…." she mused. Turning to Nick, she added, "Ash and I used to be able to travel much further without him getting tired."

Nick nodded. "Maybe it has something to do with what happened earlier today?"

Misty nodded back. "You're probably right…."

"I'm… I'm fine…." he heaved. "I just… need a break." Sighing, Ash nearly keeled over, but Nick and Misty were quick to hold him upright.

"Nick's right. We need to set up camp so you can get some sleep," Misty said. "Over there." Putting each of Ash's arms over their shoulders, Misty and Nick led him over to a rock on the ground to lean him against. "I'll get the camp set up. Do you wanna go get some firewood?"

Nick looked from Misty to Ash. Biting her lip, she hesitated just too long.

"Nick?" Misty asked. "You alright?"

Shaking her head, Nick looked back to Misty. "Would you mind if you got the firewood, and I'll set up camp?"

Misty furrowed her eyebrows slightly. "Uh…" she said, looking back to Ash worriedly.

"Sorry," Nick added quickly. "I just figured I could use the practice with a tent! I've never really been camping before."

"Oh…." Misty said quietly. "Yeah… sure. I'll be back soon."

"Misty?" Ash called quietly.

Her head snapped back to him.

"I'll be alright," he said quietly. "Nick and I will be fine."

Misty looked back to Nick briefly, and she gave her a reassuring smile. Sighing, Misty nodded. "You're right, I'm just being a little paranoid." She waved her hand dismissively. "I'll be right back!" And with that, she turned and ran to the forest behind her.

"Nick." Ash said firmly.

Raising her eyebrows, Nick bent down beside him.

"I know why you did that," he said.

Nick bit her lip. "It's just that I felt like-"

"You don't have to explain," he said, holding up a meek hand. "Thank you."

Nick's eyes widened slightly. "Just looking out for you, buddy."

Ash smiled slightly but winced.

Nick put a hand on his shoulder. "When you're ready to tell her what's happening, I'll leave it alone. But I'm here to back you up until you're ready."

"I just feel bad that she doesn't know…. She's my best friend."

Nick nodded. "I can understand that." Nick paused before asking a question that burned in her mind. "So… do you think you just have to use your powers? Like… to get the energy out or something?"

Ash shook his head. "I'm not gonna do that near you guys."

Baffled, Nick retorted, "But Ash, you could get worse! What will happen if you don't?"

"It doesn't matter!" he shouted back. Nick took her hand off of his shoulder. "You guys are much more important than that!"

"Didn't Lucario warn you? You need to train with it to gain control!"

"That's not what I want, Nick!" He coughed a little and winced. Nick reached out but recoiled when he continued. "I want to be a Pokemon Master! Not an Aura Guardian!"

"And what happens when you don't release that energy? Are you going to explode that energy outward and injure us? Or are you going to wait till it kills you? Because yeah, that will totally help you achieve your dream!" Nick knew she was being relentless now. But if it got through to Ash, maybe it would be worth it.

At that, Ash finally stopped and gasped for air. Hanging his head, he said, "What am I supposed to do? I can't do both."

"Who said you can't?" Nick said. She reached out again and put a hand on his shoulder. "If anyone can, it's you, Ash."

Looking back up at her, Nick saw a small sparkle in Ash's eyes that hadn't been there since the whole incident started back at the lab. But sure enough, it was there. "You're right! I'm gonna do it!"

Nick smiled and stood up. "Listen, I gotta get the camp set up. But if you wanna talk at all, let me know, okay?"

Ash pursed his lips but then sighed. "Alright, I will."

Nick reached into her backpack and pulled out a water bottle. "Here," she said, handing it down to Ash. He took it willingly, as Riku and Pikachu hopped over to Ash. Pikachu curled up on the floor next to Ash, and Riku on his lap. "Aww, you're trying to keep me warm, aren't you, Riku?" Ash took a sip of water.

Riku looked up to Ash and wagged his fluffy tail. "Pix! Pix Pix!"

"That's my boy!" Nick said, patting him on the head. "Alright, I'm going to set up camp now."

"Thanks again, Nick," Ash added.

"You've got it," she said.

A few minutes later, Misty came back with Azumarill carrying a few logs of wood each.

"Everything alright?" Misty asked as they stepped forward and dumped the logs on the ground.

"Yeah, we're fine!" Ash said to her. He took another sip of water. "Nick gave me some water, and these two are keeping me company while she and Charmander set up."

"Oh!" Misty said as she dusted her hands off. "Feeling okay?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah!"

"Perfect!" Nick said, walking over with Charmander beside her. "Hey boy, can you make a little pile and light it up for me?" she said to him.

"Char! Charmander!" The two picked up the logs and placed them in a neat pile. Charmander turned and touched the end of his tail to the wood, lighting it. He folded his arms and nodded proudly.

"A bit cocky, isn't he?" Misty pointed out. She held out her Pokeball and returned Azumarill.

"Yeah…." Nick said, scratching the back of her head. "Like father like son, I guess."

Ash tried to stifle a laugh and failed. "That's definitely true."

"Charmander!" the fire Pokemon shouted.

Nick pinched the bridge of her nose and held out her Pokeball. "Charmander… return, please." Charmander groaned a bit before retreating into his Pokeball. "He's gonna be a handful…."

"Those are always the most fun," Ash said.

"You should get some sleep now," Misty suggested. "We can help you get to the tent."

Nick and Misty went on either side of Ash and lifted up him up again, walking him over to the tent. With a few grimaces, Ash laid down in his sleeping bag.

"Thank you both," he said. "I'm just so exhausted…."

"You get some sleep," Nick said.

"Just shout if you need anything," Misty added. Both her and Nick left the tent, leaving Pikachu inside. Sitting close to the fire, Misty curled up her knees to her chest.

"Misty?" Nick asked quietly.

The redhead picked up her head and smiled meekly. "Yeah?"

Nick walked over to her. "Mind if I sit?" Misty hesitated slightly. Nick took the opportunity and said, "I want to talk to you about Ash." Nick sat down and Riku hopped up into her lap.

Misty visibly stiffened. "I… what about him?"

"I just want you to know that I don't want anything bad to happen between you and Ash."

"What?" she recoiled. "What do you mean?"

Nick sighed. "I know you're his best friend, and I knew that with everything that happened earlier today, things have been a little weird between you guys. But I just want you to know that I hope everything works out…." Nick stopped for a moment. "Do you understand?"

Misty blinked a few times before she replied. "I- I think so…." Misty pulled her knees a little closer to her chest. "You're right though…."

"Hmm?"

"About Ash and I…. It has been weird since everything that happened today."

"Ash is really worried, you know."

Misty's eyes widened. "About what?"

"About you… and all of this. He didn't say it, but he's nervous."

"I don't know what you mean…."

"He's worried that your friendship has been a little strained with everything going on…. You know, with remembering everything, and all. He hasn't said it, but he wants to make sure nothing changes."

"You think so?" Misty asked, her knees becoming a little less tight.

"Definitely," Nick said with a nod.

Misty slowly loosened up her knees. "I'm really worried about him."

Nick scratched her arm a little. "It's kinda obvious." Misty stiffened. "No need to worry though," Nick added quickly. "I'm pretty sure Ash is still as oblivious as when you traveled with him."

Misty's cheeks flushed slightly before groaning a little. "I'm pretty open emotionally, huh?"

"Just not with admitting it," Nick said with a shrug.

Before Misty could respond, a rustling was heard from the bushes behind the two girls. Both stood quickly, and Riku jumped down in front of them, his fur bristled.

Misty reached to her belt and picked out a Pokeball, enlarging it. "What was that?"

"I don't know, but I heard it too…." Nick said quietly.

"Water Gun!"

Before either of them could react, a blast of water came shooting out from the bushes straight at Nick, Misty, and Riku. All three were knocked backwards, dangerously close to the flames.

"Gyarados!" Misty called out, throwing the Pokeball in the air. The enormous serpentine Pokemon appeared on the ground between them and the bushes, roaring as he appeared.

"Riku!" With blurred vision, Nick looked around to see Riku in a heap beside her. She crawled over and picked him up. "Are you okay?"

Shaking his head, Riku opened his eyes and struggled out of Nick's arms.

Blinking a few times, Nick stood up too. "Alright, let's do this!" She looked to the bushes to see a Tentacruel and a Cloyster appear in front of them.

"Use Hyper Beam!" Misty called out as quickly as Gyarados had appeared.

The Pokemon drew back its head before released a brilliant beam of energy soaring at the Pokemon. They were able to dodge it quickly enough to get closer.

"Pika pi!"

Nick turned to see Pikachu emerge from the tent behind her, followed by Ash stumbling to his feet.

"Ash, get back!" Nick called. "Pikachu, I need your help!"

"I'm not gonna run!" Ash yelled out, stepping forward. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

"Riku, use Hypnosis on the Tentacruel!"

Together, the small Pokemon used their moves against the Pokemon with the Tentacruel falling asleep and the Cloyster get shocked aggressively.

"Headbutt them, Gyarados!"

The Pokemon promptly lunged at the two and pinned each of them to a tree behind them.

"They fight better than I expected," a woman's voice said pointedly from the treeline.

"Yeah! But we'll beat them to it no problem!" said a man from the distance.

"Who's there?" Ash yelled out, stepping between Nick and Misty.

From the shadows stepped a man with dark green hair and a woman with orange pigtails, smirking.

"The name's Cassidy," the woman clarified.

"I'm Butch," the man said.

"We know these two," Misty said. "You captured Ash with your fake breeding center ploy!"

"They've done a lot more after that," Ash added. "Cassidy and Bill are in Team Rocket."

"It's Butch, you little-" he started.

"Right you are," Cassidy agreed, cutting him off. "Only this time, we're not here to steal Pokemon. We're here for _you_." Cassidy pointed directly at Ash.

"What do you want with him?" Misty yelled back.

"It's not what _we_ want with him," she said. "It's what Giovanni wants with him. And the fool sent the other three after to you! But it looks like we got here first!"

"Giovanni?" Nick asked, perplexed. "I thought he just wanted Pokemon."

"Not anymore," Cassidy said.

"Ever since all that shit went down earlier," Butch said, "the boss has a new plan! And the twerp over here can help him!"

"Not a chance!" Ash yelled back. The effort made Ash grimace and clutch his side. Misty helped steady him.

Butch and Cassidy laughed, making the other three glare.

"Look at him! He can barely stand!" Cassidy said.

"Whether or not he can, he's not going with you!" Nick yelled. "Riku, Ember!" She then clicked to enlarge her second Pokeball, spinning it sideways. "Charmander, Body Slam!"

"Gyarados, Hydro Pump!"

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

The four Pokemon charged forward at the now-awake Tentacruel and Cloyster.

"Water Gun!" Butch called.

"Whirlpool!" Cassidy yelled.

Pikachu's Iron Tail and Charmander's Body Slam made contact with Tentacruel's Whirlpool while Gyarados' Hydro Pump collided with Water Gun, causing a spray of water to pour over everyone's heads. Pikachu and Charmander were both able to push past the water and get to Tentacruel, sending him flying into the tree behind him. Cloyster was no match for Misty's Gyarados and was slammed into the ground, its Water Gun being overpowered easily.

"This is over!" Nick yelled out. "Back off!"

The two Team Rocket members exchanged glances before grimacing and recalling each of their Pokemon.

"You'll pay for this, you two!" Cassidy sneered.

"We'll be back!" Butch yelled.

"And trust me," Cassidy said, throwing her hair over her shoulder, "we're not the only ones after the prize for catching you, _Ketchum_." Before anyone could ask, they were gone.

"What the _hell_ was that about?" Misty shouted. She held out her Pokeball, Gyarados being enveloped in the red beam of light.

"Apparently," Nick started, picking up Charmander in one arm and Riku in the other, "Team Rocket needs Ash for something. And there's some kind of reward for getting to him first."

"What could they possibly want him for?" Misty asked Nick. Then she looked to Ash. "I mean, don't get me wrong here, you're a great trainer and all, but…."

The question hung thick in the air, neither Nick nor Ash made a motion to answer.

Misty folded her arms. "No one has any idea what they're after?"

Nick looked to Ash for a moment before turning to Misty. "I think-"

"No."

Misty and Nick turned to Ash. He was standing firmly, his fists clenched at his sides.

"Ash?" Misty asked. Nick just waited.

"We're not going to speculate about this," he said firmly. "If we figure out why they want me, then you two will have knowledge about me. That makes you both valuable targets."

"But Ash," Misty protested, "if we know what they're after, we can fight back."

"No." he stated again. "We're not going to give them what they want, and that's it."

"Do you know-?"

"I said _no!_ "

Finally, Misty stopped and promptly shut her mouth tightly closed. Her eyes narrowed, seemingly welling with tears before she stomped her foot down. "Damn it, Ash! Why do you have to be so stubborn? We want to help you!"

"This has to do with me and no one else!" he shouted. "If I say I'm not going to guess about this, we're not! Got it?"

"No! I don't 'got it'," she said, adding air quotes. Nick just gaped at the scene, Riku and Charmander not understanding quite what was happening.

"There's nothing to _get_! We're not talking about this anymore! It's just like when they were after Pikachu! They just wanted him for power, that's it."

"In case you didn't notice," Misty bit back, "Pikachu is a _Pokemon_. You're _not_. So why would they need you?"

"I don't know, Misty! Maybe it's all of the legendary Pokemon that seem to like me?" he snapped. "Or maybe it's how many times I've cheated death? Or, I know, how many times I saved the fricken world?"

At that, Misty recoiled. She knew about a few things, like the time Ash has been "The Chosen One" that the legendary birds needed. And the time that the Unown tried to kidnap Ash's mom and created a legendary Pokemon. And the time that Celebi had needed Ash's help in the forest. Misty had even been healed by the Pokemon and traveled back in time on occasion. There was even the Latias that fell for Ash. Misty cringed at the memory of that kiss.

Misty hadn't realized how much all of that had actually affected her best friend. She swallowed hard, realizing how she had acted.

"Ash…. I'm sorry…. I didn't realize-"

"Didn't realize what?" he snapped. "That every legendary Pokemon in the world has some kind of _thing_ for me? That I've died before?"

"You mean it never _stopped_?" she asked, gaping. She turned briefly to Nick who nodded, hanging her head. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't want to scare you?" he continued ranting. "Because you were miles away, and there was no point? Because I lost touch with you by the will of some writers that I had nothing to do with? How do you _think_ you would have reacted every time I called you, Misty? You would have been worried sick! And my mom…. The one time she came to see me, at least I didn't die _that_ time." Ash scoffed and rolled his eyes. Finally losing his emotional energy, Ash slumped to the floor in a heap. He was panting and chuckling slightly to himself.

Nick and Misty both rushed to his side, the other small Pokemon around him. "It's funny, isn't it?" he continued. "We're finally together again, and it's as if nothing's changed at all…. The arguing, Team Rocket, getting into a huge mess…."

"Ash," Misty said as gently as she could, "I didn't mean to upset you. I just didn't know that all of that… that… legendary stuff was still going on."

"Of course you didn't," Nick spoke up. Both of them looked to her. "Look, I know this must be difficult for both of you. Everything and every memory you both have of your lives is a story beyond your control. Now you finally have your own real choices to make, and you're both extremely confused as to what's real and what's not. Just take some time to remember everything and we'll get through all of this." She took a deep breath before adding a final thought. "I may not be Brock, but I want you two to get along just as much as he would."

Misty and Ash exchanged glances and began to laugh. Nick joined in, the tension in the air slowly dissipating.

"I think we can all use a long sleep now," Nick said.

"Agreed," Misty replied. She stretched her arms out and yawned loudly. "I'm exhausted."

Both Nick and Misty helped Ash back into the tent and fell asleep on either side of him. Pikachu curled up on Ash's chest, and Riku and Charmander both laid on either side of Nick's head.

The following morning, Nick woke up a little late. Sitting up and rubbing her eyes, she expected to see Ash sleeping soundly and Misty already out and about. But what she saw was the exact opposite; Ash was gone, and Misty was sound asleep.

Crawling slowly out of the tent to not wake Misty, Nick came out and stood up, stretching. She turned to Riku and Charmander, and took out each of their Pokeballs. "Thank you for cuddling with me last night you two." Both fire Pokemon nodded and smiled, going back into their balls easily.

Nick looked around, noting that the campfire had been put out, and Ash's bag was missing too. She looked around to see if he had made his way down the path and peeked through the bushes, just making out something red and blue in the distance.

Watching her step, Nick pushed through branches and crunched on leaves as she made her way through the woods until she came to another clearing not unlike the one they had set up camp in. She stopped when she saw that Ash and Pikachu were there, seemingly training. But before she stepped out to greet him, she saw what he was doing.

Ash's hands were hovering close together as he clenched his eyes shut in concentration. Something bluish with speckles of green were flashing in and out of existence between his palms. Holding her breath, Nick waited to see if anything would happen.

Finally, a blue glowing sphere formed between his palms, just hovering there. He slowly opened his eyes to look down at his hands, gaping at what he had done.

"Pi-ka!" Pikachu yelped, clapping.

"That's right, buddy, I did it!"

"I'm proud of you," Nick said gently, stepping out from the tree line.

It was a mistake.

Ash gasped and instinctually thrust his hands away from himself in a poor attempt to hide what he was doing. His first thought was that the person had been Misty, and he just wasn't ready to show her what he was.

The ball of energy came soaring through the air at the girl. Her eyes widening, she jumped to the side

just in time for the ball of energy to hit the tree behind where she was standing just seconds ago.

Coughing slightly, the girl pushed herself from her elbows to her hands in the dirt. Pikachu immediately rushed to her side while Ash gaping numbly at his own hands for a moment before shouting, "Nick! Nick!" He ran over to her side and helped her to her feet. "Oh no…. What have I done?"

"Ash," Nick said between two coughs. "I'm okay. It was an accident."

"No… no it's not. I just hurt you! This is what I'm talking about! I'm going to hurt someone! I'll hurt you again or Misty or Pikachu! I can't be around anyone without hurting them! I have to-" Ash turned to run, pulling his hat down over his eyes.

But Nick wasn't about to let that happen.

She grasped his arm firmly in her hand. She didn't hold him tightly, and her hand was small compared to his size, barely able to get it around his forearm. But the gesture was just enough to say, "Don't go."

"Ash," Nick said gently, "you can't do this. We need you on this journey. You can't just run from it."

"I know," he said in barely a whisper.

"Then why are you trying to run from me?"

"I'm trying to run from me." he admitted. Nick noted the way his voice cracked as he spoke.

"You can't keep doing this. The only way to control yourself is to master your abilities; you know that."

"And what if I hurt the people I care about while I'm still practicing?"

"That's okay," she said, shaking her head. "Accidents happen."

He still wouldn't turn around to face her. "What if I kill one of you?"

Nick's hold on Ash's arm instinctually tightened. "You won't."

"You said, 'Accidents happen'. What if it's something I can't take back?"

"It won't. Because you're going to practice, and try as hard as you can to get through this, and we're going to follow you as you get to the top."

Finally, Ash lowered his arm and Nick let go. He turned to face her and wiped away tears before raising his hat again. "How am I supposed to learn if I don't have a way of teaching myself?"

Nick bit her bottom lip for a moment in thought. Then she snapped her fingers. "The Tree of Beginning!"

Ash's eyes lit up for a moment. "That's right…. That's where I met Lucario…."

"I bet you we can find something there that can help you learn more about your powers! There's gotta be something about Sir Aaron at the castle!"

Ash scratched his nose in thought. "I remember that it's somewhere north of Pewter City, but Brock was always the one that navigated."

"Maybe the map can show us," Nick said, swiping in the air. She scrolled through briefly and before selecting the "Map" option. Ash stepped next to her to observe the translucent window that appeared in front of them. Nick frowned at the map. "This map just shows Kanto…. Isn't it past the Kanto border?"

"I think you're right," he said. "Do you have to unlock the rest of the map or something?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe as I travel, it'll add the other regions." Nick swiped left to close the map and then the menu.

"Maybe you could call Gary," Ash suggested. "He probably can access the map data from the lab."

"That's a good idea," Nick agreed. She pressed a button on her Xtransceiver and another, smaller translucent window with a short list of names popped up.

"Wait," Ash said quickly, touching a hand to her wrist. "What about your journey? You need to get your badges at some point."

"If the Tree of Beginning really is north of Pewter City, we can definitely make a pit stop there so I can have my gym battle."

Ash let go of Nick's wrist. "I guess that works then."

She clicked Gary's name and the window dissipated. There was a low ringing coming from the watch-like gadget until the screen lit up with Gary's face. "Nick? I didn't think you'd call here so quickly. Is everything alright?"

"Uh, yeah," Nick said uncertainly. "We're okay now."

"What happened?" he said, his eyes widening.

"Don't worry about us, Gary," Ash said quickly. "What we need right now is to get to the Tree of Beginning."

"The Tree of Beginning?" he repeated. "Never heard of it."

"It's not surprising," Nick said, "It only ever appeared in one of the movies." Gary cocked an eyebrow before shaking his head. "Only Ash, Brock, May and Max would know about it."

"Right…." Gary said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Do you have any idea where it is?"

"I know it's somewhere north of Pewter City," Ash said.

"That's just outside of Kanto," Gary said, typing at the computer. "No wonder it's not on the map. North of us is a lot of uncharted territory. I'll take a look and see what I can find. I'll let you know when I've got something."

"Thanks Gary," Nick said, going to press the end call button.

"Not so fast," he rushed to say. She hesitated over the button. "What happened last night?"

Nick sighed and let Ash speak. "Team Rocket is after us…. Well… me."

" _You_?" Gary questioned. "Why?"

"We think it might be something to do with how Ash has the most knowledge about this world now…." Ash shot her a look but she continued. "After all, he's in every episode."

Gary pursed his lips in thought. "I guess that makes sense…. I'll see if I can find anything about what Team Rocket is up to then. When I find something, I'll let you know."

"Thank you," Nick said. "We appreciate it."

"But why do you need to find the Tree of Beginning? You think it has answers to all of this?"

Nick and Ash glanced at each other briefly. "We think that I might be able to find a legendary Pokemon there."

Now it was Nick's turn to be confused.

"What legendary Pokemon?"

"Mew."

Gary paused before answering. "Even if Mew _was_ there-"

"He is," Nick chimed in. "Ash met him."

"Okay," Gary continued, "even if you _find_ Mew, what do you think he'll be able to do about the entire world finally waking up?"

"We're not sure," Ash continued. "But maybe since he's supposed to be the beginning of our world, he could tell us something."

Gary nodded. "I guess it's the only lead we've got. I'll let you know when I get an exact location, or when I find something on Team Rocket."

"Thanks Gary," Nick said.

Gary gave them a brief salute before ending the call.

Ash looked to Nick. "Why did you do that?"

"Did you want Gary to know?" she said raising an eyebrow.

Ash pursed his lips. "Well, no…. I just don't like lying."

"I know," Nick said quickly. "It's not your thing. I've got it covered."

"How did you-?" Ash started but then cut himself off, realizing his own answer.

Nick just nodded. "It's okay. We'll figure it out. Maybe Mew might have some answers too."

Ash smiled at her briefly as the three of them made their way back toward the camp.

Meanwhile in Unova, another girl was just waking up when the bell rang. Groaning, she tossed the covers off of her and yawned as she slid out of bed.

"I'm coming, I'm coming…." she droned as she slumped down the stairs. She struggled to brush through her hair with her fingers as she came to the landing at the bottom of the stairs, the bell ringing again.

"These challengers really need to learn what it feels like sleeping in after just a short while of running this damn-" Iris cut herself off as the door slid open. "Cilan!" she shouted running up to him.

"It's good to see you too, Iris!" The older, green-haired man looked her up and down for a brief moment before he commented. "Catching up on your beauty sleep?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Iris put her hands on her hips and glowered. "At least you and your brothers each take part in running the gym! I've hardly slept at all lately! Ever since Drayden retired, I've had to care for all of his Pokemon and mine in addition to running the gym."

"Don't forget we have our wonderful restaurant that we run in addition to the gym itself!" Cilan declared with a finger in the air.

Iris folded her arms. "Well aren't you just the best multi-tasker," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, it's great to see you. Come on in! My apartment is upstairs."

Iris led the two of them up the stairs and into a small living room with a kitchen attached. There was a door to a small bathroom attached to the living room and another closed door with pictures of Iris and her Dragon type Pokemon as well as some pictures of her friends and her travels.

"Your place is simple but exquisite, Iris," Cilan commented as he looked around. "The décor is lovely."

"Thanks," she said simply as she made her way to the kitchen. "Do you want some coffee or something to eat?" she said as the coffee maker hummed.

"It was a long flight from Straiton. I could use some of your best!"

"It's just regular coffee Cilan," Iris said rolling her eyes. Clearly, she wasn't in mood for his antics this early. "Don't be such a kid."

"Calling a professional Pokemon Connoisseur a kid is hardly an insult you know," he retorted with a wink.

"Ugh…" Iris openly complained. "Yeah, yeah, congrats on your new position while also running your gym," she said rather dismissively.

"Iris, I'm hurt! You don't care at all!"

"I don't care about anything this early, Cilan." she said bluntly. She poured two cups of coffee and walked over to sit next to Cilan on the couch.

"Hey, where's Axew?" he asked, looking around. "Still in bed?"

Iris coughed. "Funny you should ask…. Axew is a Haxorus now."

Cilan nearly spit out his coffee. "Well congratulations Iris! When did he evolve?"

"Well he evolved the first time when I was still training with Clair back in Johto. When Drayden and Clair got in touch after I was there for a few months, Drayden wanted to train me as the new gym leader!"

"That's fantastic!"

"Thanks! After that, Drayden would coach me when he had challengers just like Clair did, but I also got to fight a few challengers that were willing to before they fought Drayden. One day, Drayden agreed to have a battle with me and that was when Fraxure evolved into Haxorus, and I won! That was when he felt it was the right time to hand over the gym."

"I'm truly happy for you, Iris!" Cilan said. "You really are becoming a Dragon Master!"

At that, Iris' cheeks flushed and she waved him off. "Oh please…. I already am," she said with a smirk.

Cilan and Iris laughed together for a minute and Iris took another sip of her coffee.

"I didn't expect to see you here so soon," Iris said suddenly. Cilan eyed her from his mug as she continued, "I thought you were a challenger to be honest."

Cilan set his mug down on the table in front of them. "Well Iris, when I realized it had been so long and that we were finally in the same region again, I saw no reason not to come."

Iris bit her bottom lip before raising her own mug to her lips. "Yeah…." She took another sip.

"Iris?"

"Hmm?"

"Why _didn't_ we realize it had been so long?"

Iris lowered her mug. "I'm really not sure."

"Did you start to wonder how Ash was doing?"

"Yeah, I did. I kinda miss the little kid."

"I do too."

There was silence for a moment before the bell rang.

Iris smirked. "That _has_ to be a challenger. Want to see a _real_ gym battle?"

Cilan suddenly perked up. "Wouldn't miss it for the most delectable desert!"

 **[A/N 8-9-16]: Hello again everyone! I hope you are all still enjoying the story so far! Stay tuned for more and don't forget to review please!**


	6. Shell Shocked

Shell Shocked

Nick stopped dead in her tracks. Ash looked back to her, Pikachu's ears perking up.

"Nick?"

"Uh… You go on ahead," Nick said, scratching the back of her neck. "I have to take care of something."

Ash raised an eyebrow at her. "Alone?"

"I just need to check something quick." Nick added. She waved her hand dismissively and said, "I'll be just a minute, and Misty is probably waking up right about now."

At that, Ash's eyes widened. "Ah! You're probably right! Come on, Pikachu!"

The two of them started back toward the camp, but Pikachu briefly looked to Nick before turning on his heels and following Ash.

Nick watched them, making sure they were out of sight. She heaved a deep sigh before swiping in the air. The translucent window for the main menu popped up once again. Biting her bottom lip, Nick took her time searching through every tab, option, and section of each part of the menu.

There was still no logout button.

Getting back to camp, Ash peered through the trees to see that Misty was just stepping out of her tent.

"Ash? What are you doing up so early?" she asked, rubbing her eyes. "You used to be the last one to get up."

Ash chuckled, rubbing his head. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

That made Misty stop. "Did you just say _I'm_ right?"

"Hmm…? Oh, I guess I did…."

Misty finished tying her hair in a low side-pony. "Okay, something's up. What's going on?" Then she furrowed her brows and looked around briefly. "And where's Nick?"

"Oh, she just had to do something," he said quickly.

Misty raised an eyebrow but then pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay fine. But what are you doing up so early? Where were you?"

"Why do you want to know?" Ash shot back. He didn't mean for it to come out so biting, but it was too late.

Misty gaped for a moment before recovering. "Excuse me?"

Ash sighed. The last thing he needed right now was an argument with Misty. As it was, he felt so far away from her even though she was right here with him again. He felt her slipping further away. Defeated, he replied quietly, "Mist…. I'm sorry."

Misty's eyes widened. She would have fully expected Ash to start an argument with her. But for him to stop and to use his old nickname for her… was something else entirely.

"Look, I just needed some time to myself. I'm… I'm having a really hard time adjusting to all of this." he admitted.

Misty's expression softened.

Side-eyeing her, Ash was able to take a breath from her reaction before he started. "I know that you probably hate me. And I'm okay with that because I do too. But what I need you to understand is that I've pretty much just remembered that I have friends across six regions, most of which I haven't seen in _years_."

At this, Ash had to pause and sit down on the log by the campfire. Misty hesitated but then sat down beside him. Then he continued. "And on top of that, I realized how much I miss them, and I'm trying to make things right with you, and it was all out of my control…. I just don't know what to do." Ash looked to the ground. When he finished ranting, he wrapped his arms around himself. Though with his two best friends after being apart for so long, Ash had never felt more alone.

When she finally regained composure, Misty looked to Ash, studying his features. She lifted her hand but pulled back briefly, unsure of what he needed. Finally, she decided to set it on his shoulder.

Ash flinched briefly but then looked up to see Misty giving him a small smile. "I don't hate you, Ash."

Stunned by her reaction, now it was his turn to press her. "Why? I would…. I _do_."

"You said it yourself, it wasn't your fault. And you don't have to make things right with me. You're here now. And we're on another journey together." She hoped it made him feel at least a little better, knowing she didn't blame him entirely.

Ash watched her and nodded a few times.

Misty sighed. "And honestly… I blame myself too. I'll admit that I was angry when I first realized what was going on, but I could have reached out too… said _something_. But I didn't."

Ash didn't say anything. He knew she was right; _none_ of his friends had reached out to him either. Funnily enough, he still felt worse about not being the first to reach out.

"And look at the bright side," she said lifting a finger, "now that we know what's going on, we can talk to everyone again and make things right."

He nodded, and Pikachu finally decided to hop into Ash's lap. He put a hand on his head, ruffling his soft yellow fur. It almost always eased his thoughts to pet Pikachu, so he leaned back on one arm. "I wonder what everyone is doing."

"When we get to Viridian City, you can call everyone."

Tentatively stepping out from the brush, Nick whispered a small, "Hey," so as not to startle the other two.

Misty and Ash turned and smiled at Nick.

"Where were you?" Misty asked. It wasn't accusatory, but it still made Nick's heart skip a beat.

"Oh, I just… called Gary."

Ash and Misty exchanged a glance and Nick bit her bottom lip.

"Why'd you call him? Was there a question you had?" Ash asked. "We're here to help, you know!" he said with a goofy grin.

Nick chuckled and shook her head. She was relieved that he seemed a little more positive than earlier. "No, no…. I just wanted to ask him to trace a route for me. Here, look." Nick walked forward and leaned over Ash and Misty's shoulders, pulling up her menu. Clicking the map, it flashed with a bright blue line traced through the Viridian Forest. "We should be able to get there by nightfall if we cut through a few denser parts of the forest. I figured it would be safer to get to the Pokemon Center as soon as possible considering last night."

Misty nodded. "I think it's better to be safe than sorry now. Speaking of last night, how are you feeling, Ash?"

Both of the girls turned to him and he just shrugged. "I feel okay now. Kinda tired but otherwise, I'm good."

"Sounds good to me," Nick said, swiping left to quickly exit the menu. "Let's eat something first and then we'll head out."

"Alright, I'm starving!" Ash proclaimed, patting his stomach. Pikachu let out a "Pi!" in agreement.

"You're always starving," Misty said with a roll of her eyes. She leaned toward Nick and added, "I have to hand it to him though, his eyes are _never_ bigger than his stomach."

Nick put a hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh. "So… who here is the cook?"

Ash and Misty exchanged glances before looking back to Nick.

"I guess it's never too late to learn…." Nick said with a sigh.

Fortunately, the trainer's bag that Nick had chosen at the professor's lab had all of the necessities for cooking. She took out a pan and some pancake mix, teaching Ash and Misty to wait for the bubbles to start before flipping. She wasn't entirely sure if they had been listening intently, but she supposed she could do most of the work herself for the time being. She knew she wasn't much of a cook herself, but she had the basics down well enough.

After breakfast, the three trainers made their way further down the path with Pikachu and Riku leading the group.

After a while of silence Nick started to feel uncomfortable. She had figured that the two of them would have a lot of comfortable silences on their own journeys together.

"So Ash," she started, and the two to her left craned their heads to her. "Why don't you tell Misty about some of the adventures you've had with your other friends? You know, to get her up to speed?"

Ash bit his cheek, but Misty seemed intrigued. "That sounds interesting enough."

"Well… where to start?" he said, visibly uncomfortable as well.

"Well…." she started, putting a hand to her chin. "What about right after she stayed back in Cerulean?"

"Well she knows about that," he said, dismissively. "That's when I met May and Max in Hoenn."

"Have you told her about Contests?" she asked.

"Come to think of it, no…." Ash said, scratching his chin. "They're like these big competitions that Coordinators like May compete in! The first round is the Appeals round, usually when they have their Pokemon show off a few moves in a unique style. The second round is the start of battles. But while they battle, they have to worry about the appearance of their Pokemon's moves. The third round is usually the semi-finals and finals."

"Hmm…" Misty mused. "Daisy, Lily, and Violet would probably like that then. Maybe they should hold Contests at the Cerulean Gym."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Ash said. "May competed in the Kanto Grand Festival!"

"I thought so," Misty said. "Until I met her, I didn't even know Kanto had Contests."

"Me either," Ash admitted.

"Oh!" Nick started, and both looked to her. "Misty doesn't know Dawn!"

"You're right," Ash said. "Dawn is great. She reminded me of myself when I first started on my journey. She had big dreams just like me, only she wanted to be a Top Coordinator. She even made it to the final round in the Sinnoh Grand Festival!"

"Wow," Misty said, her eyes wide, "she must be really talented."

"She is," Nick added. "When she and May first met, they battled together and made a great team. I always loved watching her Contests."

Misty watched Nick and Ash discuss Dawn in a way that made her seem really sweet in her eyes. But at the same time, Misty felt her stomach twist slightly the more Nick spoke. She knew so much about Ash's life that she didn't. But she pushed the thought down, knowing how ridiculous it was to be jealous.

"You should tell her about Paul" Nick lightly suggested. "Your rivalry was pretty interesting."

Ash scratched the back of his head. "Well, I mean we didn't like each other at all when we first met."

"Paul was kind of a jerk at first," Nick explained to Misty. "If he didn't feel like a Pokemon was strong enough to withstand his training methods, he let it go. One of those Pokemon was actually Infernape as a Chimchar."

Misty's eyes widened. "I didn't know that…."

"And Ash beat Paul in the semi-finals in the Lily of the Valley Conference! And of course he used Infernape!"

"That's quite the story he's got there," Misty said eyeing Ash.

"Yeah, well…." Ash's cheeks flushed ever-so slightly. "Eventually Paul realized how if you work together with your Pokemon, anyone can become strong. But you have to really care about them and they have to care about you too."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Misty agreed, nodding back with a smile. The truth was – despite being a little jealous – she was truly interested in everything he had done in his time away.

"Tell her about Iris!" Nick went on. "And Cilan! She has a lot in common with both of them!"

"I never thought of it that way," Ash mused. "You see, Iris is studying to become a Dragon Master, just like you want to be a Water-type Master! She comes from a place in Unova called the Village of Dragons, and she was even recruited by Drayden, the Opelucid City Gym Leader to one day take over the gym!"

"Damn," Misty said. "She does have a lot in common with me."

"And Cilan is Gym Leader with his two brothers, Cress and Chili," Nick added. "Cilan is a Grass-type trainer, Cress is a Water-type trainer, and Chili is a Fire-type trainer. Their gym is also a restaurant, like how Cerulean City Gym is also a theater."

"I bet Ash _loved_ traveling with Cilan and his cooking." Misty replied, raising an eyebrow at him.

"You bet!" Ash said, patting his stomach. "His cooking rivaled Brock's!"

"He was also a Pokemon Connoisseur," Nick said. "Basically, he's in a top class of people that can predict the relationship between a trainer and their Pokemon."

"He was a connoisseur of a _lot_ of things," Ash said, dismissively. "But that was the only _official_ one." Nick snorted.

"Then there's Kalos." Nick said, finally.

"Yeah…. Kalos…." he said, kicking a pebble.

Ash licked his lips but said nothing. Misty and Nick exchanged glances before looking to Ash.

"Hey, no need to worry, right?" he said with a wink.

Nick laughed lightly, but she mentally slapped herself again for making him uncomfortable for the second time that conversation. She started to wrack her brain for something else to get his mind off of it. "Oh, Misty!" Nick said suddenly. "Why don't you tell Ash what you've been doing?"

"Right," Misty said, visibly perking up. "I had a lot of weird gym battles with trainers from all over. There were a few thugs that came by every once in a while, including Team Rocket here and there…."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "Team Rocket?"

"Yeah, I mean, not Jessie, James and Meowth. Butch and Cassidy showed up and some… other… grunts…."

Nick was quick to question. "Do you have any idea what they wanted?"

"I'm not sure," she asked, putting a hand to her chin. "They mentioned stealing the gym's Pokemon, of course, but that's all I remember."

"Did they mention Ash?"

Misty's eyes widened. "I… I don't remember…."

"Hmm…." Nick pondered. "I thought that maybe this might have been going on longer than we originally thought. But if they didn't mention anything about Ash, then they're probably as lost as the rest of us are."

"She makes a good point," Ash agreed. "Come to think of, I haven't seen Team Rocket since you showed up."

"Well that's concerning," Misty commented. "We'd run into them almost daily as far as I remember."

"Yeah," Ash said, "with the exception of Unova, we bumped into them all the time, and now it's been two days."

"Hang on," Misty said, "it's been two days? Nick, shouldn't you log out?"

The two younger trainers eyed Nick expectantly. At this, Nick straightened up. "Oh, has it? Time kinda flies when you play video games, right?" she said with a nervous laugh.

"Shouldn't you go eat or something?" Ash suggested. "There's gotta be stuff you have to do back home, right?"

Nick shrugged at this. "To be honest, I don't feel hungry at all. Part of the game's program includes survival statistics. Remember when I had to choose my class?"

"She's right," Misty said. "Depending on the trainer class, our stats are different. Nick and Ash, you both have an increased capture rate, endurance and attack stats. I have increased capture rate of Water types, terrain endurance of water, and increased speed."

Ash gaped at her for a moment before leaning in with his hands on his hips. "How'd you know that, Mist?"

Misty rolled her eyes at him. "If you were paying attention back at the lab, you would have known all of that."

Ash grunted. "Okay sure…. Well how do I check that stuff anyway?"

"We both have menus too," Misty stated. "There's an option to look at your trainer card and stats."

"Oh, well why didn't you just say so?" he said excitedly. Ash swiped in the air in order to open his own menu. The ringing of the sound of the menu made Ash smile.

Misty shook her head. "So easily amused," she commented to Nick.

But Nick's attention was briefly diverted. Ash had furrowed his eyebrows at his menu when looking at his stats. Nick eyed it, seeing that his statistics option had more details than her own. Quickly closing his menu, Ash made eye contact with Nick for a brief moment.

Looking back to Misty quickly, Nick shook her head as well.

Making their way through the forest, the three trainers stood on the edge of Viridian City at sunset. Ash and Misty smiled at the sight of the city beginning to light up the night. Nick looked down to Riku and smiled. "We're here!"

Riku turned to face Nick and let out an excited, "Vul!"

"Come on, guys! Let's get to the Pokemon Center!" Ash called out, pumping a fist in the air. He started to take off toward the city at a sprint.

Pikachu called out, "Cha!" and followed behind him.

"Ash!" Misty yelled, following behind. "Wait for us!"

Nick and Riku exchanged amused glances as Riku wagged his tail at her. "Come on, little guy!" The two of them took off toward the city behind Misty.

As they ran, Nick took in the sights of the city around them. The buildings were bright, in both light and color compared to the real world. People were all over the city with so many different Pokemon with them. She was tempted to take out her Pokedex to scan them all, but she knew she'd have another chance to meet them all.

Nick watched her new partner scamper in front of her, its fluffy orange tail flowing in the breeze. She could feel the heat radiating off of her Pokemon from in front of her while the crisp night air blew past her on either side.

Nick looked ahead to see Misty hurry after Ash through the sliding glass doors of the Pokemon Center. Slowing to a jog, Nick came upon the front door. She took a breath, glancing at Riku, and walked inside.

Misty was scolding Ash for running ahead at the front desk when Nick walked up.

"What if she lost sight of us? We're supposed to be helping her on her journey, remember?" she yelled.

Ash held up his hands in defense. "Relax, Misty! She's right here! She's fine, right Nick?"

Misty whipped her head around to face Nick before glaring back at Ash. "She's fine _this_ time."

"Guys, just relax. When you both first went on a journey, you were ten. I'm eighteen; I can handle myself." Nick said, putting a hand on each of their shoulders. Misty smirked a bit and Ash's shoulders seemed to ease up. "No need to worry, right?"

Ash smiled at that. "Right," he said with a nod.

"Hello there!" Nurse Joy said, coming up to the desk. "Welcome to the Viridian City Pokemon Center. How may I help you?"

Misty practically shoved Ash out of the way. "Hi there," she said quickly. "Would you mind healing my Pokemon?"

The nurse seemed a bit in a daze before shaking off the thought. "Of course! I can take all of your Pokemon."

"Gee, thanks a lot!" Ash said, handing her Pikachu.

The nurse's eyes widened. "I knew it! I _do_ remember you two! You came here with a Pikachu that wouldn't go in its ball years ago! And you saved my Pokemon Center from Team Rocket!"

Ash and Misty exchanged glances for a brief moment before smiling back at the nurse.

"Yeah, that was us!" Ash exclaimed.

"It was right after you destroyed my bike no less," Misty grumbled.

Nick sighed, pulling out her only two Pokeballs. "Riku, return please," she said, holding it out to the little fox Pokemon. He let out a little yelp before smiling and entering the ball. Nick clicked the button and placed the two smaller Pokeballs in the tray.

"I don't seem to remember you, though," Nurse Joy added to Nick.

She tilted her head up at her. "Oh, I wasn't there for that," she said with a dismissive wave. "I'm Nick. It's nice to meet you."

"Well in that case, welcome!" Nurse Joy said. "I'll have your Pokemon ready for you in about an hour. In the meantime, help yourselves to a room and our cafeteria."

"Thank you," the three said unison.

After Nurse Joy left, Nick turned to face the other two. "Let's get a room and put our stuff down. Then we'll get something to eat."

"Sounds good to me," Ash replied, patting his stomach.

Nick leaned into Misty's shoulder and whispered, "Aren't you glad the bike isn't the only thing that hasn't changed?"

With a playful roll of her eyes, Misty brushed past Ash and headed up the stairs to the dormitories. Ash just gave Nick a look of "What?" before Nick shook her head and allowed him a pat on his shoulder.

Coming to the open door, Nick walked in to see Misty put her pull-string on the top bunk. Ash strode in behind her and threw his bag onto the bottom bunk before Nick could even ask where he'd prefer to sleep. She smiled to herself before throwing her own bag onto the single bed beside them.

Later on, the three trainers were sitting at a booth in the cafeteria of the Pokemon Center. Ash was on his second helping while Nick and Misty where in the middle of their first. The conversation had hit a lull as they ate, and Nick took notice of Ash.

Every few seconds by then, Ash would wince after chewing and Misty – to his left – hadn't yet noticed. Eventually, his fork clattered to the plate as he gripped his head with his right hand.

"Ash!" Misty put her own hand on his shoulder.

"I'm – I'm fine," he said through a strained breath.

Nick was about to rise to her feet, but then pursed her lips when she noted the hand on his head flash blue. "Ash, I think maybe you need some more rest. It's only been a day since everything happened."

Misty looked from Nick back to Ash before slowly nodding. "I think she's right. Do you need help getting back upstairs?"

Ash raised his gaze to meet Nick's and she gave him a subtle nod. Removing his hand from his head, he quickly clenched his fist at his side and rushed out of the booth. "No, I just need to go."

Before Misty could protest, he hurried out of the room. Her words dying on her lips, she looked over to Nick. "I don't understand…."

Nick sighed. There wasn't much she could say to comfort Misty. And there was nothing she could do to help Ash. She was completely at a loss for words.

Suddenly, Misty pushed her plate away, putting her elbows on the table and her head in her hands.

Biting her lip, Nick slid down the bench closer to Misty. "Hey…. He's gonna be fine."

"I know," she snapped suddenly, pulling her hands away. "But why isn't he telling me what's going on?" She paused then and just stared at Nick, letting the question hang thick in the air.

At Nick's silence, Misty shook her head. "I already know the answer. It's me. I'm the problem."

"What? No," Nick said, putting her hands over Misty's. The younger of the two looked up at the older. "Ash is going through a rough time right now. I'm sure he wants to tell you what's happening but he barely knows himself." Nick paused at her own words, trying to soak in the double meaning.

"That's not…" Misty sighed, trying to find the right words. Finally, she said, "That's not the part I'm talking about. I think that if I was more open to where he's been, what he's done… then maybe he'd want to try to open up to me more."

Nick furrowed her eyebrows and retracted her hands. "Misty, you're the one going on another journey with him now, so I don't see-"

"Nick, I'm sorry," she cut her off but declined the comforting firmly. "I owe you an apology. I'm jealous. I'm jealous of everyone he's been on a journey with. Mostly of the _girls_ ," she said a little too bitterly for Nick's taste.

Nick gave her a sympathetic smile. "It's understandable. But you know nothing has happened with them, right? They're all his friends."

" _I'm_ just his friend too," she said with an eye-roll.

Nick winced. "Ash just doesn't know how to put his feelings into words. Look what happened this morning."

"You heard all of that?"

"I wasn't that far, Misty."

"Ugh," she groaned. "Don't get me wrong, I like you. You're smart and strong and a good friend…. I like May a lot too. Hell, she's my friend just as much as you are. But I didn't know her until he came home. I never met Dawn or Iris or _Serena_ …."

Something in her tone when she mentioned Serena made Nick cringe. She knew the history there, and she didn't know how much Misty knew about Ash's most recent female traveling companion. It wasn't for her to tell.

"I just felt so lonely after Ash and Brock left," Misty continued to Nick's relief. "I don't expect him to apologize because it wasn't his fault; we discussed that already. But I just…. I don't know. I feel like I'm causing him more pain than necessary."

"Misty, do you remember how excited you were when you both realized how long it had been?" she asked. Misty nodded and took a breath. "I'm telling you now that Ash is _just_ as happy as you are about traveling with him again."

Letting out the air, Misty closed her eyes. "I hope you're right."

 _Meanwhile…_

It had been a long day.

Rubbing his eyes clear, Brock was finishing up his shift at the Pokemon Center in Pewter City. It had been just a few months ago that he had started his residency there. This day in particular, it was emergency after emergency with all hands on deck.

Not used to the bustle of a big city like Pewter for his job – having come fresh out of a school in a small Johto town – there were few words to describe how tired he felt at the moment.

Sitting at his desk, Brock was typing at a laptop – recording the day's events – when Nurse Joy walked into the office.

"Um… Brock?" she tentatively asked. She knew he was worked to the bone today.

"Something wrong, Nurse Joy?" he asked, his attention now grabbed.

"There's a trainer here that wants to see you…. He says he knows you. I know you're tired though and your shift is almost over. He's staying here for a few days so I could send him away if you want."

Brock stood and shook his head. "No, not at all. I'll go greet them. Thank you," he added with a nod.

Brock moved past Nurse Joy and trudged his way down the hallway. He hoped it might be his mom wondering why he was there so late today.

"Long time, no see," said a cheery voice.

As Brock rounded the corner, a trainer with auburn hair that had been relatively M.I.A. for a long time stood before him.

"Ritchie?" Brock asked. The boy he once knew to look like one of his best friends had grown much taller since he last saw him. He was tall and lean, no longer with a kid's round face. But the Pikachu with the scruffy hair on his shoulder was a dead giveaway it was him.

"Hi Brock!" he said, coming up to him now. "I heard you were a doctor here in Pewter! I've been traveling around Kanto again so I just thought I'd stop by to say hi."

"That's really great, Ritchie. But I'm not a doctor quite yet," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "This is just a residency."

Ritchie noted Brock's eyes. "You certainly look like you've worked a doctor's hours."

"I can imagine," Brock mumbled mostly to himself.

"Brock?" Ritchie and Brock turned to see Nurse Joy. "There's a call waiting for you. It's from Professor Oak's lab."

Ritchie and Brock exchanged a glance before Brock nodded to Nurse Joy. The two of them walked over to one of the video phones and Brock sat down in the chair, clicking the phone on.

"Brock, I'm glad you picked up."

Brock's eyes widened for a moment. "Gary! I hardly recognized you." he replied with a smile.

Gary ran a hand through his hair before pulling off his glasses and letting out a chuckle. "I guess it has been a long time, huh?" Gary noticed the person standing behind Brock. "Hey, didn't you compete in the Indigo Plateau Conference?"

Ritchie nodded. "Mhmm, my name is Ritchie. Nice to meet you, Gary."

"You too," he replied with a nod. Gary's eyes hardened for a moment. "Brock, I actually called to ask you some important questions."

Brock's eyes narrowed but he nodded. "Of course. What can I help you with?"

Gary took a breath audibly into the microphone. "You were traveling with Ash through Kanto when he competed in the Battle Frontier, right?"

Brock gave a curt nod. "I was."

"And you all went to a place called Rota Town, north of Pewter City, just outside of Kanto for a competition?"

"We did, yes," Brock answered shortly. Ritchie tensed at Brock's sudden change in tone. He eyed him briefly before turning his attention back to Gary.

"I heard that you ran into some trouble at the competition's ceremony…." he said tentatively. "You all traveled to the Tree of Beginning?"

Brock folded his arms. "Gary…. What are you getting at?"

The former pursed his lips. "Ash and Misty wanted to travel there. They were asking me about the easiest way to get there."

"And I'm presuming you didn't call me just to find out the fastest route?"

Gary pinched the bridge of his nose before lowering his voice. "He said that he saw Mew there."

Brock lowered his arms. "He didn't mention anything else, then?"

Gary shook his head. "That's why I called. I need to know what happened at the Tree of Beginning."

"They're going alone?"

"No." Gary answered shortly.

When Gary didn't elaborate, Brock just nodded. "Have you spoken to May about it? Ash gave you her number, right?"

"Didn't wanna bother her," he said. "She and Drew are working the Sinnoh Grand Festival this week."

"The one Dawn is participating in?" Brock said, surprised.

Gary smirked. "She's a talented coordinator. I'm happy she made it there again."

"Wow, a compliment from the great Professor Oak's grandson? What a feat," Brock pointed out.

"Never mind that," Gary said after a cough. "If you hear anything else, just let me know, alright?"

"Will do, Gary. Nice to hear from you."

"You too. Take care, Ritchie."

"You too Gary!" he said with a wave. The phone clicked off.

Brock stood up slowly, keeping his eyes downcast.

"Brock?" Ritchie asked.

"We're between them and the Tree of Beginning right now," he said. "I don't know about you, but I'd like to find out what they're up to."

"And help if we can," Ritchie added.

"I don't know how much use I'll be considering my job, but I definitely would like to hear from them."

Ritchie nodded. "It'll be nice to see them again. It's been such a long time…."

Brock paused. "Yeah… it has been, hasn't it?"

 **[A/N 11/2/16]: Hi everyone! I'm sorry I took such a long (unexpected) hiatus! But Pokeshipping Week is now underway, and I'm writing for that, so it's been helping me get back into the swing of things! I'm going to try to post a chapter once every few weeks, but I am most definitely not abandoning the story! Please read and review! Thanks everyone!**


	7. Showdown in Pewter City

Showdown in Pewter City

The next morning, Nick woke up to a light beeping coming from the nightstand next to her. She rubbed her eyes and looked around her to get her bearings.

She vaguely remembered the conversation from last night she had with Misty and pursed her lips as she looked over at the bunkbed across from her. Misty was asleep on the top bunk soundly while Ash was sprawled on the bottom in sort of a heap. He seemed to be sweating with the blanket tangled around him. Pikachu was still sleeping soundly on the pillow above Ash's head.

Nick swung her legs over the side of the bed and was about the go to Ash when she heard the beeping again. She jerked her head to the loud sound and snatched up the small wrist-communication device.

Gary was calling her.

Taking one last glance at Ash, Nick bit her bottom lip and quickly shuffled out of the room. She gently turned the knob and clicked the door back in place behind her before tapping on the device's screen.

Gary's face immediately came into view looking very much displeased.

"Morning kind of person, huh?" Nick grumbled. "Ash and Misty are still sleeping."

"Good." he grunted. Nick cocked an eyebrow at his response before Gary continued. "I wanted to talk to _you._ What's going on with you guys? Why aren't you going for your Gym battles?"

Nick crossed her free arm over her chest and yawned. "I already told you, it's just a detour. I'm still challenging the League." Then she furrowed her eyebrows once she cleared her head of sleep. "Why does it matter to you anyway? Ash and Misty are the companions I chose and they're the ones supposed to be guiding me, aren't they?"

"That's just it," Gary said. "We were supposedly programmed to do that, but since the other day, we have free will now, right? So they aren't disagreeing with your decision."

"And they should be?"

"Precisely. And because they're not, you're taking advantage of them."

"Excuse me?" Nick shot back.

Gary pinched his nose. "No, I don't mean of _them_ specifically, I mean the game-"

"Why would I take advantage of them?!" Nick snapped. "You have no idea why I chose them, or why I'm here, or-… or…!" Nick was practically shaking. "I'm helping them! And you!"

"Nick, that's not what I-"

"I'll talk to you later, Gary."

Nick raised her hand and clicked to hang up before Gary could say anything else. Nick continued to stand there for a minute with her shoulders hunched and fists clasped against her sides. When she was calm enough, she released her fists and slid down the door to the floor.

Taking a few deep breaths, Nick hugged her knees to her chest to keep herself from crying. She wasn't just in complete disbelief that Gary would say that to her, but she just couldn't process how she had wound up in a fight with him. It painfully reminded her too much of the real world and why she had picked up the game in the first place.

The real world…. That thought made Nick cringe. Not only did she have no way of getting back, but she was running out of time. Someone would notice eventually, and Nick feared what would happen if she left now.

She was lost. She knew she shouldn't have snapped at Gary the way she did. But that was something she was still working on herself. And it was part – at least a small part – of why she needed the time off from the real world.

Taking another deep breath, Nick finally stood up and pressed her forehead against the door. She pressed in the code given to her by Nurse Joy and carefully opened the door. She turned and gently shut the door behind her before turning back to the bunkbeds.

"Ash," Nick whispered. He was sitting up in bed now, wiping the sweat off of his forehead with Pikachu looking on.

Ash slowly glanced up at her. Nick's shoulders tensed at the sight of him. There were clear bags under his eyes and his hair was a damp disaster. "Hey…." he said, rubbing his eyes.

Nick stepped over to the mini fridge and pulled out a water bottle before closing it and coming to Ash's side. She was short enough to sit up on the edge of the bottom bunk while Ash was hunched over quite a bit. She handed him the water bottle and he took it eagerly, gulping it down. When he finished it off, he was gasping for air.

"Rough night?" Nick sympathized.

Ash closed his eyes and pressed a hand to his forehead. Unfortunately for Nick, her distress went unnoticed. "Yeah…. I couldn't sleep at all. I was tossing and turning all night."

Nick allowed half a smile for him. "Misty was really worried about you," she said, careful to keep her voice down. "I don't want to tell you what to do…." she trailed off.

"I know, and you're right," he finished for her. He ran a hand through his hair. "I've just never felt this awful in my life. And I don't want to keep this from her, but she's going to be even angrier when she realizes I've been keeping something from her."

"Trust me, I understand keeping secrets from people. But in the long run, it's better to be honest with her." Nick's eyes widened when she realized the truth in her own words.

"You're right," he said with a sigh. "I _will_ tell her. I just need some time to figure out how."

Nick nodded. "I think that's the right thing to do."

Ash nodded and tossed the blanket off. He rose from the bed in boxers and a white T-shirt. He stretched his arms out and cracked his back while Nick ruffled Pikachu's fur on his head. "I'm gonna take a shower."

"Take your time." Nick dismissed with a wave of her hand. "I'll go get breakfast for everyone."

Ash gave her a small smile and shut the door behind him.

Glancing over at her own bed, Nick ran a hand along Riku and Charmander's backs. Both of the Pokémon slowly opened their eyes and smiled at Nick. But they quickly realized something was wrong with their trainer's demeanor.

Nick was happy she at least had them to understand her.

* * *

The next few days in Viridian Forest consisted mostly of light-hearted banter between the three. Nick was quickly learning that having a third force in the mix wasn't a bad thing for them to break it up when things turned sour. The only part that still clouded her thoughts was that Ash had yet to tell Misty the truth.

Her mind wasn't just on Ash and Misty however. There was very much a missing presence from her Xtransceiver and it began to weigh heavier and heavier on her conscious. She desperately wanted to apologize to Gary, but she didn't know what to say. And if he had yet to call her, she figured he must still be mad at her.

She knew that in retrospect, she was the one that was angry and that Gary wanted to just talk. But she was too embarrassed to call him. So she figured if it was important enough, he'd call her.

He had yet to, and Nick was starting to feel worse and worse with each day that passed.

She did however take the two days to train her Pokémon. By no means was she entirely willing to give up on the League. But while it wasn't her number one priority anymore, it didn't mean she felt any different about getting stronger. If she wanted to help her new friends find out what was happening to them, she needed to be able to protect them as much as they could her.

It was early afternoon when they reached Pewter City. Misty recommended stopping in the Pokémon Center before Nick took on the Gym Leader, who she knew was currently Forrest, Brock's younger brother. Ash recalled from the last time he saw Brock that he was studying to become a Pokémon doctor and wondering aloud whether he was still in Johto or if he had come home yet. Nick suggested that if he wasn't, it was time he gave him – and everyone else – a much-needed phone call.

When the doors to the Pokémon Center slid open, they were immediately greeted by Nurse Joy.

"Hello! Welcome to the Pewter City Pokémon Center! How can I help you?"

"Hi there," Nick said, stepping up to the counter. "Would you please heal our Pokémon?"

"Of course! Please place your Pokeballs on the tray."

Nick turned and faced Riku and Charmander and they both smiled up at her. "They're just gonna heal you up for a little while, okay?" The two Pokémon nodded with a smile and Nick couldn't help but smile back at them before bringing them back into their Pokéballs.

Nick placed the Pokéballs on the tray followed by Ash and Misty. Pikachu hopped up on the counter beside the trays, ready for his much-needed relaxation and a touch-up.

"Ash!"

The three trainers turned around to see the source of the voice was none other than a long-forgotten rival, Ritchie.

Ash's jaw hit the floor and Misty shouted in surprise. "Ritchie! What are you doing here?" She approached him and he gave her a quick hug.

"I was actually challenging the Kanto Battle Frontier." He paused as he looked to Ash. "So what are you guys doing here?"

Ash finally swallowed and stepped forward into a hug with Ritchie. When they parted, he elaborated. "I uh… Misty and I are helping out our friend, Nick," he said, gesturing to her. "It's her first time in a League."

Nick gave Ritchie a small smile. "Hi there!" she said with a small wave. She held her hand out in greeting. "Nice to meet you!"

Ritchie smiled back and took her hand. "Nice to meet you! So, first swing at the League, huh?" Nick nodded. "Best of luck to you! I just heard that Forrest is the new Gym Leader here in Pewter."

"That's right," Misty added. "And while I'm helping out Nick, Daisy took over in Cerulean."

"Daisy took over as Gym Leader?" Ritchie questioned. "Good for her… and you, right?"

Misty waved dismissively. "She's a pretty good battler once she got the training. I'm just happy for the time off."

Ritchie nodded. "So have you guys seen Brock yet?"

Ash's eyes widened. "Brock's in town?"

"He's doing his residency here!" Ritchie exclaimed. "I saw him a few nights ago when I came in for a few days. He's probably busy right now, but if you stop in later, you could probably catch him on his way out."

"Yeah, definitely," Misty insisted. "We should get rooms first though. Nick plans on challenging the Gym today."

"Oh! That's so exciting!" Ritchie exclaimed, in Nick's direction. "Would you mind if I came to watch?"

Nick's eyes widened slightly for a brief moment before she gave him a small smile. "Sure! It's just that it'll be my first official battle, so don't expect anything fantastic…." she said, scratching her nose.

Ritchie pumped a fist. "I'm sure you've been training really hard. You'll do great! Just keep your head and keep in mind that Forrest knows what he's doing."

Nick nodded. "Thank you, Ritchie."

"And what about you, Ash?"

Ash turned to Ritchie and furrowed his brows. "Me?"

"Yeah! Don't you plan on challenging another League soon? It's been awhile, hasn't it?"

Ash's mouth hung open for a second before he closed it and looked down. "I guess it has."

Ritchie looked to Misty with a look of "Did I say something wrong?" Misty shrugged.

Nick looked to Ash and frowned. She looked to Misty and Ritchie and shook her head. "Why don't you two go find Brock?" Nick suggested. She turned to Ash, and gently held his arm, making him look down to her. "Why don't we go get our rooms here?"

Confusion crossed Ash's face for a moment before nodding. Nick led him away from the group and toward the stairs.

"Nick?" Ash said suddenly on the step above Nick's.

Nick looked up to meet his eyes. "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

Nick's eyes softened. "Of course."

But Ash wasn't done. He untangled his arm from Nick's and put a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder. "I need someone that understands right now."

She allowed him a small smile. "I know." But she bit her lip and looked to the side before adding, "Misty would understand too, you know."

Nick felt Ash's hand tense up on her shoulder slightly before he retracted. Nick held her breath, but then Ash replied, "I know. I just don't know if I fully do, yet."

"You don't have to," Nick insisted. "That's why we're heading to the Tree of Beginning for some answers." At that, Ash raised his eyebrows at her. "I know this isn't just about losing the Kalos League, Ash. You've been through a lot, especially recently."

"You're right…. I just don't want this to change anything between us, you know?" he shrugged and looked away.

"This _is_ Misty, we're talking about, you know." Nick said. "When has she ever doubted you?"

Ash pursed his lips in thought. When he really thought about it, Misty had been there when he had given up his life, when he was chosen to save the world, when he had fought tooth and nail to save his mother, when he had fought to save Celebi, when he had saved Latias and Alto Mare, and when Pikachu was tortured into revealing his memories of the legendary Pokémon. She had fought by Ash's side through it all. Never once did she doubt him, never once did she talk him out of it, and never once did she give up hope for Ash.

Ash sighed. "Even without that stuff, Misty has been acting really strange lately," he said, continuing on the stairs. "I don't know what's wrong."

Nick approached the door to one of the rooms and punched in a key passcode, unlocking the door. "I mean, a lot's happened when you were away. While she doesn't know what happened to you, you don't know what happened to her.

* * *

"So you're traveling with Ash again, huh?" Ritchie said after a cough.

Misty tore her gaze away from the stairs and looked back to Ritchie. "Uh… yeah!" she said. "It's been… interesting."

"So Brock said you're headed to the Tree of Beginning after this?" Ritchie asked casually.

Misty bristled. More people knew about their plans than she expected. But to add to her discomfort, she wasn't entirely set on the fact that they were only going there to talk about their memories.

Ash had been acting weird since they left the lab, and Misty wasn't _all_ that oblivious. She knew that Nick was much wiser than her in regards to Ash's journey, and it was unsettling. Misty hadn't wanted to leave, and the nightmares only stopped after she had formed better relationships with her sister and her own Pokémon at the gym.

"Yeah, we are," she conceded.

"You don't sound too thrilled about going up there," Ritchie commented, folding his arms.

"To the Tree of Beginning?"

The two trainers turned to see Brock in a lab coat approach them with a smile that seemed rather forced to Misty.

"Brock!" Misty exclaimed. She ran up to him, and he gladly accepted her embrace.

"It's so good to see you, Misty," he said, hugging her back. He pulled away and looked down at his younger friend. "Is that what you and Ritchie were talking about earlier?"

Misty pursed her lips and looked away. "Yeah… weren't you there with him?"

"With May and Max, too, yes," he added. "What are you guys going up there for?"

Misty started but then clamped her mouth shut. She couldn't decide on whether to tell Brock about her doubts. She had always accepted Ash's decisions, no matter how ridiculous. But she was beginning to have her doubts, and she didn't like it. But maybe it had something to do with their memories after all.

"Misty?" Brock asked.

Her gaze snapped back up to Brock and she shook her head. "Huh?"

"What's wrong?" Brock asked.

"Something's going on with Ash," she blurted against her better judgement. "I don't know what's wrong with him, or me, or Nick, and I don't know what I'm supposed to do or say, or-" Misty continued her rambling, arms flying and her voice rising.

"Okay, slow down," Brock said, grasping her shoulders.

Misty's body went rigid for a brief second before finally she took a deep breath and sighed. "I'm sorry," Misty said, looking at the floor. "I just don't know what to do."

"Have you considered asking him?"

Misty looked up at Brock, eyes wide. "Asking him what? Where the hell he's been for the last three years? Why he's forgotten everyone until now? Why he's being so secretive? If he still-?" Misty immediately snapped her mouth shut. She had said too much and was about to spill more.

Brock looked from her to Ritchie and then back again. "Why don't we talk in my office?"

* * *

"This is Pewter City Gym," Ash exclaimed.

Nick gazed up at the words – surprisingly small on the sign – that read "Pewter City Gym". She took a breath. "I'm ready."

Ash put a hand on Nick's shoulder. "You'll do great. Just stay focused and use what you know." Pikachu – back on Ash's shoulder – let out a "Cha!" in agreement.

"She's going into a Rock-type Gym with two Fire-type Pokémon," Misty commented. "She has a severe disadvantage… like someone _else_ I know," she said, poking Ash's side.

He swatted her away and waved a hand dismissively. "I'm sure Nick has considered that fact."

Nick nodded. "I have something in my back pocket," she said with a smirk.

"Good for you, Nick," Ritchie said with a thumbs up. "You'll do great!"

"Thanks, guys," Nick said, brushing her fingers over the two Pokéballs on her belt. She stepped forward and the doors to the Gym parted.

"Looks like they did some renovating," Ritchie commented.

The front entrance was no longer the door to the battlefield. Instead, there was a front desk with double door to the right of it, and a wood door with glass panels to the left. It was complete with a doorbell and welcome mat on the floor.

The left door opened just then, and Forrest stepped out with one of his sisters and a brother at his side.

"Forrest, we have challengers!" exclaimed the sister.

Forrest turned his head to the group and smiled broadly. "These aren't just challengers, you guys." Forrest ran up to Ash and gripped him and Misty in a hug. "It's so good to see you two! And Ritchie, how are you?"

"I'm great, thank you Forrest," he said with a nod.

Forrest gestured to the two younger siblings and inclined his head to the group. "You guys remember Ash and Misty, don't you? Brock traveled with them. Ritchie is a friend of theirs."

The two siblings bowed their heads respectfully. "I'm Yolanda," said the girl.

"I'm Salvadore," the boy said.

"Hello!" Ash said happily. "We're actually here for a challenge like you said."

Forrest tilted his head slightly. "But you two already have badges," he said.

Nick then stepped forward and bowed politely. "I'm Nick," she said, lifting her head. "I'm here to challenge you for the Boulder Badge." She smirked.

"Oh, I see…." Forrest replied, also bowing. "Welcome to the Pewter Gym," he said. "How many Pokémon will you be using?"

"Two. This is my first Gym," Nick said casually.

"Oh! That's great! Well, let's head on in then," he said, pointing to the doors on the right.

"Thank you!" Nick said. She strode over to the doors, Salvadore catching up and holding them open for the group.

Walking in, Ash, Misty, and Ritchie looked on in awe. The Gym itself had certainly had a renovation done as well. The walls were lined with bleachers and the battlefield was much larger in comparison to its former counterpart. There were high platforms and rocks jutting out randomly across the field and lights were across the stadium.

"Nice upgrade," Misty commented.

"I guess mom and dad are good for some things," Yolanda said under her breath.

Salvadore shot her a look and she just shrugged.

"Alright, enough you two," Forrest said. "Sorry. They gave us the money and left again. So we had to do most of this ourselves."

Nick pursed her lips before choosing her words. "Well you've done a great job without their help… all of you," she said, inclining her head.

That made the three of them exchange smiles. "Thank you, Nick," Forrest said. "Please step to your corner of the field. You guys," he said tilting his head to the rest of the group, "can take a seat in the stands."

"Good luck, Nick," Misty said, putting a hand on her arm.

"You'll do great," Ash added, flashing her a smile.

Nick nodded and walked to the end of the battlefield.

"I will be the ref," Yolanda shouted, going to the middle of the field on the outer edge. "This battle will be between Pewter Gym Leader Forrest versus Nick, the challenger! Each trainer is allowed two Pokémon, and only the challenger is allowed substitutions! The battle will end when both Pokémon on one side are both unable to battle! Is the Gym Leader ready?"

Forrest nodded. "Ready."

"Is the challenger ready?"

"Let's go." she said.

"Then let the battle begin!"

"Nick," Forrest called, "I will call out my Pokémon first to give you the choice!"

"Sounds good to me, Forrest!"

"Crobat, go!" he called. Appearing in a flash of white light was a round, purple, bat-like Pokémon. It cried out and then eyed Ash and Misty on the sidelines and screeched happily.

"It's Brock's Crobat!" Ash exclaimed. "Good luck out there!"

"In that case…. Riku, let's do this!" Nick called out. She threw her right arm across her chest, flinging the Pokéball onto the battlefield. Riku appeared on the ground, ruffled his tail, and let out a tiny howl. The Gym seemed to get a little brighter as Riku's Drought took effect inside the Gym.

"Fire type, huh?" Forrest called out. "And a shiny at that! This'll be interesting. Alright, Crobat, use Whirlwind!"

Crobat soared over the battlefield and above Riku, flapping its wings triumphantly.

"Riku, use Ember into the Whirlwind!"

Riku immediately obeyed his trainer's orders.

"What is she doing?!" Ritchie exclaimed. "The fire's going to be thrown right back at Riku!"

But despite that thought, Riku's perfectly aimed bursts of fire went shooting through the wind tunnel of Crobat's move and hit Crobat.

"It's a direct hit!" Misty yelled, standing up.

"How did she know that would work?" Ritchie asked, also standing.

Ash merely watched carefully, his eyes narrowed on the field. There were only two thoughts running through his head: one, Nick's strategies were learning from watching his battles all of those years, and two, she was risky… like him.

Crobat became slightly disoriented by the attack and fell back to shake it off. Nick didn't hesitate to take the opportunity attack. "Riku, use Tail Whip!"

Riku launched himself up at Crobat who was hovering closer to the ground. Riku's tail lit up with white light and crashed down into Crobat.

"Crobat!" Forrest called out. The Pokémon had fallen and hit the ground with a thud. He quickly shook it off and flapped his wings to gain ground once more. "Alright, if you can still fight…. Use Supersonic!"

Riku was just landing on the ground again, regaining his balance as this took place, and the attack landed.

"Riku, keep your head straight," Nick called to him. But the fox Pokémon was shaking his head and spinning in circles.

"Crobat, use Wing Attack!" Forrest called.

"Counter Shield!"

"No way…." Ash muttered, finally standing at the ledge of the bleachers.

Riku looked determined, and so he laid on his back and spun as fast as his furry little body would allow, kicking up dust around him until he released Ember. The bursts of flame erupted from Riku's mouth and shot into the air in a violent fiery funnel. Crobat had already been closing in with wings glowing blue, and the flames encircled the bat-like Pokémon, closing in.

Crobat screamed as the flames burned his wings as they stopped glowing blue. He fell from the funnel as the Ember stopped and hit the ground with louder thud.

"Crobat is unable to battle! Riku is the winner!" Yolanda called.

"Riku, that was great!" Nick called, smiling at her now-mess of a Pokémon.

Riku smiled through the dirt but quickly began grooming himself.

"Not yet, we still have to finish this," Nick scolded.

Riku let out a huff before turning around and looking out over the field.

"Not bad," Forrest called out, Crobat returning to his Pokéball. "But let's see how you deal with a Rock-type Pokémon. Rhyperior! Go!"

Forrest threw the Pokéball overhand onto the field, and in another burst of white light, Rhyperior appeared with a deafening roar and stomped his foot down, shaking the field.

Riku's fur stood on end as he took a few shallow breaths. Nick knew he wasn't going to last much longer, so she looked down to him.

"Riku," she said, his head turning to her, "it's up to you if you want to rest or keep going."

Riku's eyes widened for a brief instant before he shook his head, a smile on his face.

Nick smiled back. "If that's what you want, I'm here to back you up. Alright Riku, use Tackle!"

"She let Riku decide!" Ritchie exclaimed.

"Not too far off from something I've seen Ash do," Misty commented, eyeing him.

But Ash was too busy taking in the action in disbelief. Her flair for unorthodox battling was coming to life before his eyes, and his strategy was being utilized in ways he never would have given the same circumstances.

Nick was definitely something else.

Riku's attack connected, but Forrest was quick to think on his toes. "Rhyperior, grab Riku!"

The larger Pokémon caught Riku after the attack hit, and held him out in front of him with one hand by the tail.

"Riku!" Nick called out, "Try to use Ember to break free!"

But the smaller fox Pokémon was trapped, and Ember wasn't nearly strong enough to loosen Rhyperior's grip on him.

"Use Rock Wrecker!" Forrest called.

To Nick's horror, a large rock began to form with a blue glow in Rhyperior's free hand. The Pokemon drew back and slammed it into Riku, sending him flying across the battlefield and into a tall pillar in front of Nick.

"Riku!" she yelled.

The Pokémon was fallen limp at the base of the pillar.

"Vulpix is unable to battle! Rhyperior is the winner!" Yolanda made the call.

Nick ran out to Riku and cradled him in her arms, soothing his disheveled fur on his head. He opened his eyes a crack and whimpered.

"Hey, you did a great job," she said quietly to him. "Thank you for pushing yourself." She held out his Pokéball and he gratefully went back inside. Nick stood up and faced Forrest.

"Your Vulpix isn't just unique; he's really tough, too," he complimented.

"I agree completely," Nick said, "but you haven't seen anything yet."

Nick ran back to her side of the field and clicked to enlarge her second Pokéball. "Charmander, let's go!" she called. She whipped the ball out in front of her and her large Charmander appeared on the battlefield, nose in the air.

"Another Fire-type?" Forrest asked. "If you insist…."

Wasting no time, Nick called out, "Charmander, Body Slam!"

The larger-than-average Charmander swiftly ran between boulders and pillars coming up closer to Rhyperior before jumping to the side and landing a direct hit.

"Holy shit!" Misty yelled. "I've never seen a Charmander move so fast!"

"He's a cocky one, I'll give him that," Ritchie added. "Reminds me of a certain someone's Charizard."

Ash nodded. "That's Charizard and Bayleef's egg. He happened to be hatching when Nick came to the lab."

"That explains it," Ritchie said. "That's how he knows Body Slam."

"Fortunately," Misty added, "he's not nearly as much of an asshole as his father. He got his cockiness, but he takes after his mother a lot in how protective he is of Nick."

"Rhyperior, shake it off and use Dig!"

The Drill Pokémon jumped and descended into the dirt beneath them in loud torrent of sand. Charmander had to shield his eyes to see through the dust, and when it settled, Rhyperior was gone.

"Don't panic just yet," Nick called to Charmander. "Use Smoke Screen!"

Charmander opened his mouth wide and released a black-purple fog onto the field, cloaking everything in it.

Nick covered her face and coughed a bit as the smog made its way over to her. "Just listen for Rhyperior's digging! He won't be able to see or hear you, but he'll have to come out eventually!"

On the other side of the field – where Nick couldn't see – Forrest was grimacing. Nick was right, and his options were limited. He had one idea, but it had to be quick because Charmander would hear it coming. "Alright, Rhyperior! Quick, use Megahorn!"

As instructed, Rhyperior burst out from the ground behind Charmander and lunged forward.

But the sound was enough for Charmander to hear it coming and dodged out of the way while a very blind Rhyperior charged through the fog and collided with a wall.

"Rhyperior!" Forrest cried.

"Charmander, Ember!" Nick yelled quickly.

Charmander did as instructed and set flames through the fog – clearing it – and hit directly where he had heard Rhyperior slam into the wall. Still disoriented from the collision, Rhyperior had no time to react and took the attack head-on, yelping out in surprise and pain.

"Rhyperior, shake it off and use Horn Drill!" Forrest called.

With the Smoke Screen cleared, Rhyperior headed straight for Charmander with its horn spinning, and Nick had yet to call a command.

"Tell Charmander to dodge!" Misty screamed onto the field. "What is she doing?!" she snapped at Ash.

"Just wait," he said.

Confused, Misty and Ritchie looked back to the field.

"Spin, Charmander!"

To everyone's bewilderment, Charmander picked up speed just as with his first attack and jumped into the air slightly off-center toward Rhyperior. As the two Pokémon came close, Charmander spun just above the horn, grazing him only slightly, but was still enough to latch onto the larger Pokémon's head.

"Give it everything you've got and use Ember!" Nick called again.

Charmander bit down on the Rhyperior's head and released as much fire as his small body could handle, making the Rhyperior cry out in pain.

Finally, the larger of the two pitched forward – the smaller leaping backward off of him – and hit the ground with a thud.

Silence.

"Rhyperior is unable to battle!" Yolanda finally called when she collected herself. "Charmander wins! Which means the victory goes to the challenger, Nick!"

Charmander ran back to Nick and jumped into her waiting arms. Nick jumped up and down while holding him and cheering, "We did it!"

In the bleachers, the other three had yet to move.

"She won…." Ash said finally.

"With only Fire-types," Ritchie added.

"To be fair," Misty pointed out, "Forrest's first Pokémon wasn't a Rock-type."

"But a Charmander up against a Rhyperior?" Ritchie asked. "That win is unheard of."

"It is now," Ash said.

He watched as Nick danced around with Charmander in her arms, smiling. He realized how happy she was and smiled to himself. It reminded him of his win here, over seven years ago.

Then he realized how much he missed competing, himself.

* * *

Clemont wiped the sweat off his brow with the oil-filled rag he pulled from his pocket. The young engineer had been working on an invention designed to measure the stats of a Pokémon, and its changes during Mega Evolution.

He was about ready to keel over. He had two Gym Battles that morning to take care of – thankfully Bonnie had offered to clean up after – before he sprinted to his internship at Professor Sycamore's lab. He was so happy to finally be able to work on inventions – and being paid was also a big plus – but he was also obligated to run the Gym. Balancing the two for the older teen wasn't the best of situations, but he figured it would work for now.

"Need any help?"

Clemont turned his head with a water bottle to his lips to see the older researching assistant with black hair smiling at him.

"I'm alright, thanks Tracy," he said with a sigh. "I think it's almost done."

"Why don't you take a break and come get lunch with Professor Sycamore and the other researchers? We'll be glad to have you."

"I don't know," Clemont lamented, "I mean, I want to, but I'm sure Sycamore wants me to get this done soon."

"He was the one that offered, actually."

"Really?" Clemont asked, eyes lighting up.

Tracy chuckled. "Yeah, and I think you need the break more than you're willing to admit."

Clemont sighed again. "Maybe you're right." He put down the water bottle, wiped his face a little more precisely and went to the sink to wash his hands before following Tracy out the door.

The two made their way to the table in the kitchen of Sycamore's apartment upstairs. Clemont was greeted amicably by the other researchers before Sycamore himself pulled out a chair next to him. "Clemont! Please, have a seat! You've been working so hard."

Clemont's cheeks flushed but he sat down. "Thank you, sir."

Sycamore waved his hand dismissively. "You've earned it, kid. Before we order lunch, I wanted to show you something."

With a raised eyebrow, Clemont pulled in his chair. Professor Sycamore reached behind him, and pulled a case from the counter that Clemont hadn't noticed before sitting down. Sycamore pushed the box toward him.

"What is it?" he asked.

Sycamore inclined his head. "Open it and find out."

Skepticism crossed Clemont's features for a brief instant before he shook it off and pulled the box toward himself. He flipped open the golden latch on the side closest to him and lifted the lid.

Clemont's mouth hung open.

"Sir…. Where… where did you get these?"

Inside the box were several Key Stones, each glowing brilliantly. Below the row of Key Stones, there were several other marble-like jewels each in a different color; they were Mega Stones.

"Tracy has been sent all over the region to collect the Key Stones of people willing to give them to us for research purposes. The Mega Stones were found by yours truly as well as a friend of mine in the Sinnoh region, Roark, as well as another friend of mine, Clay, in the Unova Region. We've been collecting them for over two years now."

Clemont ran his index finger over each one. Some were uncharacteristically warm while others were cool to the touch. Some shined brighter than others and were various sizes relatively-speaking.

"So," Clemont started, his eyes not leaving the box, "you're going to use these to test out Mega Evolution on the different Pokémon?"

"Not exactly," Sycamore explained. "Some of them, yes, but others, I want data from the real world. So I want to give them to trainers I trust that will use them in the field. I'd just ask them to collect the data on their respective Pokémon's Mega Evolution in their Pokédex. Does that make sense?"

Clemont nodded his head vigorously. "Yes, of course! That's a great idea, Professor!"

"Tracy here knows a few people in the Kanto region that can obtain data on Pokémon there," he explained. "I'm going to have to use my connections to the fullest to spread the word that I need help. Do you know of anyone I could use the help of?"

Clemont put a hand to his chin in thought. Then he looked to Tracy. "You know Ash Ketchum, right?"

Tracy chuckled. "I certainly do."

"It's too bad Greninja couldn't stay with him, or we could've used him."

"Actually," Tracy said, lifting a finger, "Ash also has a Charizard."

"Charizard can Mega Evolve!" Clemont recalled Alain's Mega Charizard X and Trevor's Mega Charizard Y.

"Which is why he's one of the people I'm sending a gift to," Sycamore continued.

"But what about Alain and Trevor?" he asked. "Don't you know them? They have each of the Mega Evolutions."

"While this is true, I have a spare Mega Stone for each form," he said. "So I want to give them both to Ash and let him make a decision on if he wants one or both. And if so, it's just more data on various Charizard's obtaining Mega Evolution, anyway."

"Huh, that's very kind of you, sir," Clemont said.

"So I'm heading back to Kanto to meet up with Daisy at the Cerulean Gym," Tracy said. Clemont recalled how Tracy had a long distance relationship and how often he spoke to her on the phone in his downtime. "Would you like to come along?"

"Me?" Clemont asked bluntly, pointing to himself. He turned to Sycamore. "Don't you need me here, sir?"

"Once you finish up that machine, I'll be needing to collect Mega Evolution data, so it would be great if you could help Tracy spread the stones."

"I… Uh… Yes! I would love to! But my Gym…."

"Can't Bonnie or your dad run it while you're gone?" Tracy asked.

"My dad has been a bit… _busy_ …." He hesitated a little too long. "But maybe I can get Bonnie certified in the next few days."

"Wonderful!" Sycamore said, clapping his hands together. "Then let's order some lunch! I'm starving!"

* * *

Sitting in the lobby of a Pokémon Center, a teenage girl was brushing the fur on her female Meowstic.

"There! How does your fur feel, now?" she asked, setting the brush down.

The cat-like Pokémon turned to her and purred lightly, nuzzling the trainer's hand.

"And that's it!" the MC called into the microphone.

Serena turned to face the TV mounted on the wall and watched as the image of a girl with long blue hair was shown on the screen with her Lopunny.

"And the winner is… Dawn! She will be moving on to the semi-finals! Stay tuned folks!"

On the screen, Serena could see the girl dressed in a blue ball gown with a crown waving to the audience with one hand and hugging her Lopunny with the other.

Serena watched in awe as they replayed the final moments of the battle. Dawn's Lopunny was an absolute powerhouse but also a symbol of grace.

She looked down to Meowstic who was looking at her, trying to decipher her trainer's reaction to the show.

"Meowstic… I think our next stop is Sinnoh!"

* * *

 **[A/N 2-22-17]: Hi everyone! Thank you for sticking with this story! I know it's been a bit of a rough start, but I do plan on continuing to the end!**

 **For more on my stories, go to .com**

 **Stay tuned!** **é**


	8. Trail to the Tree

The Trail to the Tree

Ash had his things packed up before the others were ready to leave. Ritchie had gone back to his own room to take a nap and bade them goodbye. Then, Ash had told Misty and Nick that he needed some time to make some phone calls, and both girls nodded to him in understanding.

When he had left the room with the door closed behind him, he had heard Misty immediately voice concern to Nick, but she dismissed it. She explained to her that Ash feels just as guilty about not keeping in touch with the rest of his friends as he was with her. At that point, he walked away.

With heavy steps, Ash made his way down the stairs to the out-of-date phones of the Pokémon Center. When he approached the many phones on divided tables, he sighed, took his hat off, ran a hand through his hair, and replaced his hat. Pikachu was on his heels – as always – but he had looked up at his trainer then with lowered ears. Ash observed this and leaned down to allow his partner to climb up onto his arm and then shoulder, giving him a little pet on the head.

Realizing he couldn't procrastinate much longer, he went to the phone in the furthest corner and sat down on the wooden bench in front of the screen. Ash picked up the phone and put it to his ear. His hand hovered over the buttons next to the screen. Who was he supposed to talk to first? His mom? His other traveling companions? The Pokémon he hadn't checked up on in years?

He felt a lump forming in his throat that he couldn't force down. He bit his lower lip, and Pikachu put a little yellow paw on his cheek. "Pikapi…." he sympathized.

Ash pat him on the head again. "Thanks buddy. I gotta do this…. I just… I don't know where to start." He scratched his nose for a few moments before finally settling on someone he hadn't spoken to since a visit in Sinnoh. Ash figured he should just go in order of who he hadn't spoken to in the longest time, feeling like he owed those people the most of all.

Finally able to swallow, Ash dialed the number of the Pokémon Center in Hearthome City.

The night they arrived in Pewter, Brock had told Ash what he knew about what his former traveling companions were currently up to. Evidently, Brock liked to keep tabs on the younger ones in his "traveling family" as he called it.

The screen remained black, but Nurse Joy answered almost immediately. "This is the Hearthome City Pokemon Center! How may I help you?"

"H-hi," Ash started with a stumble in his tone, "I was hoping I could speak to May…. I heard she was staying there recently."

"Of course!" the bubbly nurse on the other end replied. "I just need a little more information than a first name…."

Ash opened his mouth and closed it again before remembering details. "She's a coordinator, about 14 years old. She's won the Hoenn Grand Festival…. Uh…."

"Oh! Are you referring to May, the Princess of Hoenn?"

Ash squinted his eyes a bit before recalling Dawn once calling her that when they met for the first time. "Yes! That's her!"

"Oh! She just walked in! The last day of the Sinnoh Grand Festival is tomorrow, you know! Just caught her! Let me just let her know someone is on the line for her."

"Thank you…."

Ash waited, tapping his fingers rhythmically on the table in front of him, Pikachu picking up on his obvious anxiety. After a few minutes, Nurse Joy's voice came back to his ear. "She has a few guests with her, so she said she'll be down in just a minute!"

"Thank you very much," he replied with a nod of his head to Pikachu. The Pokemon's ears perked up, and he hopped up onto Ash's lap, peering at the dark screen.

A few more tense minutes passed. Ash's breathing became a bit erratic, and he continuously clenched and unclenched his fists. Finally, he heard a ringing at his ear, and the screen in front of him had the green button to answer and a red button to decline lit up below it.

Ash's finger shook slightly as he pressed the green button.

The screen immediately filled with color, and several people Ash recognized on the monitor. There were gasps on both ends of the line as greetings and excitement started to pour into Ash's ear.

Ash pulled his hat a little further over his eyes, biting his bottom lip. Despite this, he had a smile on his face.

* * *

"Brock spoke with Gary?" Nick asked, folding her arms across her chest.

Misty was pacing around the room, her voice raising with each new development she told Nick. "Why didn't he tell us that there was more to know at the Tree of Beginning? What's he hiding?"

Nick hesitated but recovered quickly, hoping Misty wouldn't notice. "I don't think he's hiding something. I think that it's just hard for him to both remember everything that's happened to him and to discern what to and not to tell us."

But Misty noticed. She squinted her eyes at Nick, putting her hands on her hips. "You know something, don't you?"

"Why would you think that?" Nick said quickly.

"You hesitated," she pointed out, "and you _know_ about what Ash has encountered on his journey because you literally _watched_ it happen." Misty huffed. "What happened at the tree?" she said, meticulously annunciating each word.

Nick sighed. "Look, I might know _most_ of the important things that happened on his journey, but it doesn't mean I know _everything_ , first of all. Second, if you're so concerned that he's hiding something, why didn't you just ask him? And now Brock and Gary are spying on him?" The thought of Gary's concern struck a chord after their last interaction, but she quickly shook it off.

"It's not spying if it concerns more than just the person that wants to go!" Misty argued back. "I'm coming along too, you know! And this League season is supposed to be about _you_ , not him!"

"Honestly, Misty, I think the game changed a little when Ash remembered his life… no pun intended," Nick added, rolling her eyes. "And did you ever think that whatever it is, he might be afraid to tell you for fear of hurting you?"

"So there _is_ something going on!" Misty accused.

"I don't know!" Nick threw back, her arms in the air. "I'm just trying to help him figure things out!"

" _We're_ ," Misty emphasized, pointing to herself, "supposed to be helping _you._ " Then she pointed at Nick. "That's why I'm so confused as to why this is all happening to him… and why now?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Nick said. "I think that we just need to take it slow, and let Ash tell you what he knows when he's ready. Don't forget that he forgot about seven years of his life."

Misty opened her mouth to retort, but the words died on her tongue. Finally, she lowered her arms and took a deeper breath. "I know…. That's why I haven't asked him about it yet." She thought for a moment before adding more quietly, "But why has he told you?"

Finally giving in, Nick amended, "Maybe because I already knew. Or maybe for an outside perspective for some advice. Honestly, I'm not sure why he confided in me first. It should have been you."

Misty's eyes widened if only for a moment. "Me? Why?" she asked, flipping her reasoning again.

"It's pretty obvious that he cares about you, Misty. He probably would tell you if not for maybe hurting your feelings. And he knows that when he finally does tell you, it's gonna be hard. And you know how Ash is; he always puts others before himself. Just… give him some time. You already know how guilty he feels about not calling you. He has a lot on his plate right now. And he _is_ trying to make things right. I think you owe him that much."

Misty frowned. She listened to every word Nick said. She knew she was right, but she still couldn't help but wonder what it was that was holding him back from being completely honest with her… like how they used to be. "You're right. I just wish things were back to the way they used to be."

"Don't we all?"

* * *

The following morning, the three trainers headed out toward the Tree of Beginning. Ash had made a lot of calls throughout the night, and the lack of sleep that day was evident in his tone and weakness of his body. Misty and Nick fretted a lot about his health – given what had happened at the lab not too long ago – but through his bitterness, Ash insisted he was fine despite his stumbling and need for frequent breaks.

The morning after, Ash seemed a little better on his feet, but was still irritable. Nick pulled him aside more than once to try to convince him to talk to Misty, but her efforts were futile.

They had been walking for about two hours when Ash abruptly stumbled to the ground.

"Ash!" Misty yelped in surprise. She and Nick were at his side in an instant. Pikachu whimpered, pinning his ears down, and Riku put a paw on his shoulder.

"Guys, I'm fine," he waved them off. "It's no big deal. I just tripped," he insisted.

"No," Misty said sternly. "We're taking a break." She promptly dropped her backpack on the ground beside her and sat down. She moved to help Ash take his bag off, but he swatted her arm away.

"I said I'm fine!" Ash said, getting a little louder. He turned his head away from Misty.

Both little Pokémon jumped in surprise at the sudden outburst.

Meanwhile, Nick gave Ash a quick once-over. His hands were beginning to glow again, and his eyes were changing color. They seemed to be swirling, no true color identifiable where the whites of his eyes should have been.

Nick put a hand on Misty's hand as she went to reach for Ash again. She looked to Nick, startled, but Nick shook her head at Misty.

Turning back to Ash, Nick put her hand on his shoulder. "Ash, look at me." She said it quietly but firmly.

"I can't," he whispered.

Nick bit her lip and looked to Misty, worry painted across her features. Looking to Ash, she whispered back, "Why?"

"My eyes are burning… something's… wrong…." he admitted, his shoulders tensing.

With Ash shaking for undetermined reasons, Misty gasped as something exploded behind them.

All three trainers were thrown back with a scream, the two Pokémon rolling in the dirt.

Misty was the first to recover, coughing and looking over to where Ash and Nick lay on the ground. "Ash! Nick!"

Whatever had struck them had knocked Nick unconscious. Riku was standing in front of her head protectively, despite what looked like a limp in his front paw. Pikachu was licking an open wound on Ash's head as the teen groaned and pushed himself up into a sitting position. Holding his head, he looked around, his eyes widening as they fell on Nick, sprawled out.

Misty quickly got up and ran over, kneeling at Nick's side. Ash pushed himself up and kneeled on Nick's other side. The two conscious teens looked to each other.

"On three?" Misty asked.

Ash nodded.

"One," she counted.

"Two," he counted.

"Three!" they said together, flipping her as gently as they could onto her back. Misty quickly leaned down and checked Nick for a pulse, which was there. She listened for breathing as well and was relieved to find that she was.

 _Working with water meant knowing your stuff about CPR_ , Misty thought.

Ash struggled to stand as Misty looked over Nick. He scanned the area with his eyes, no longer burning. Then he closed his eyes and tried to just… feel. He tried to let everything come to him naturally and was met with an array of colors and life in a forest so dense.

Ash took in a sharp breath of air and opened his eyes. The effort of feeling the world around him all at once was enough to nearly knock him off his feet. He stumbled for a moment before taking a step back and holding his head. Feeling a strong warmth suddenly behind him, he turned around, and looking behind him, Ash saw that Nick had sat up and coughed as Misty held her upright.

A sharp laugh echoed through the air. Ash's gaze shot back to the forest around them, clenching his teeth.

"Prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!"

Ash's eyes narrowed as the dust around them settled and squinted to see the TRio just as he had remembered them. "Team Rocket!" he practically snarled.

"Hey! Don't intarupt da motto, twerp!" Meowth protested.

"To protect the world from devastation!" Jessie continued

"To unite all people within our nation!" James said.

"To denounce the evils of true and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Wooooobbuffet!"

"Since when did they get even somewhat diabolical?" Misty questioned.

"Eh…" Nick groaned, holding her head. "I think right around the time Ash went to Unova…."

"Somewhat diabolical?" James questioned. "We've been following you for years now!"

"In fact, here's a little something to reassure you!" Jessie added with a smirk. She pulled something out her pocket and launched it in the air toward Misty and Nick.

" _No!_ " Ash screamed in desperation.

"Riku!" Nick yelled out.

Before Ash could react, Riku shot an Ember attack out of his mouth, exploding the device high in the air above them. The resulting explosion caused Riku to collapse onto Nick, with herself and Misty thrown back once again. "Riku!" Nick shouted.

Ash had managed to block more of the debris from his face, lowering his arm and coughing before seeing what happened. "Team Rocket! Stop it!"

"Sorry, no can do," James replied.

"We got strict orders from da boss to make ya come with us!" Meowth explained.

"So either you come with us like the goody-two-shoes that you are, or the twerpettes suffer for it," Jessie said, clicking a button on another grenade.

"Not gonna happen!" Ash shouted. "Pikachu, Electro Ball!"

Pikachu jumped up from where he was sitting before Misty, making sure she and Nick were alright, and spun, forming a yellow ball of electricity on his tail before launching it at Jessie.

Jessie threw another one of the small machines and it connected with Pikachu's Electro Ball mid-air, causing another explosion. Pikachu landed with a huff, the force of the explosion clearly weakening him.

"Knock it off!" Ash yelled, his fists clenched. Nick didn't have to squint to see that his hands were glowing with bright blues and greens. Misty had yet to notice.

Jessie merely smirked and tossed another explosive straight at the two girls, unable to react in time on the ground.

" _NO!_ "

The explosion that followed was deafening. Nick closed her eyes in anticipation of the pain, but it never came. Sher ears were ringing, and she slowly, hesitantly, opened her eyes and looked up.

Standing in front of her was Ash, his back to her and Misty with his arms and legs outstretched. In front of him was a glowing blue shield. It swirled with energy within and around, whipping around it – and Ash – violently.

Nick gaping, looked beyond Ash to see that the explosion had sent Team Rocket into the air, and she could vaguely hear something about "blasting off again" in the distance.

Nick turned to Misty, who was staring wide-eyed at Ash.

She turned back to Ash and watched as the shield began to fade. Ash lowered his arms as his chest heaved with effort, and his body lurched forward before he fell back.

"Ash!" Nick shouted. She and Misty rushed forward to break his fall, his body landed on Nick and his head in Misty's hands on her knees.

His chest heaved up and down as he struggled to breathe even in unconsciousness. Finally, the blue glow that had engulfed him gave way and dissipated.

Nick looked over to Misty who had Ash's head cradled on her legs between her hands. Tears ran down her cheeks. She looked over to Nick, her voice choked with emotion. "What happened to him?"

* * *

The next few hours were strained. Misty had let out Infernape, Sceptile, and Charizard to take turns carrying Ash. He had yet to wake up, and his breathing was still erratic. All they knew was that they had to get to Cameron Palace as soon as possible.

Nick had recalled Riku to his Pokeball, afraid he's hurt his paw too badly. Pikachu laid asleep in Nick's arms on the way back, exhausted from trying to protect the others.

Misty had launched a thousand questions at Nick, albeit calmly. Her emotions over Ash's current state had seemed to overshadow her upset about the secret he had kept from her.

"So…. his… powers…." Misty started. "He discovered them at the Tree of Beginning?"

Nick nodded. "Ash is the reincarnation of an Aura Guardian, Sir Aaron. He has all of his same abilities, but he chose to continue his journey rather than become a hero."

"Isn't he already a hero in his own right?" Misty questioned. "He's a chosen one and everything anyway."

"Right, but that was the result of a miscommunication of a prophecy," Nick explained. "The prophecy you remember was sort of a play on words. He _was_ the chosen one… but that prophecy was likely created when it was determined that Ash was destined to become an Aura Guardian. If you haven't noticed, Ash kind of has a flair for saving the world and its gods: the legendary Pokémon."

"Right," Misty agreed. "So I guess the savior of the world has to have some kind of powers to do it."

"Exactly. Pokémon are attracted to Ash for his abilities to sense when lives are at stake and the world is out of balance. And it began with Shamouti Island."

Misty thought about that for a moment. "Do you think that the people at Cameron Palace can help him control his powers? Is that why we're going there?"

"Not exactly," Nick said. "He actually _did_ meet Mew there. And he also freed a Lucario that was sealed away for centuries by his original trainer. But they were more of friends, since Pokeballs didn't exist yet. It turned out that the Aura Guardian Ash was reincarnated from was the one that sealed away Lucario. And through aura, Lucario had mistaken him for Sir Aaron. He offered to train Ash, but Pikachu ended up being taken to the Tree of Beginning, and under the circumstances, Lucario gave up his life for the Tree and Mew, as Sir Aaron had centuries ago and was the reason he sealed Lucario away, to save him. And if it hadn't been Lucario…." Nick finally stopped herself from continuing.

"It would have been Ash…." Misty said.

"He was about to die," Nick pressed on. "Lucario pushed him out of the way and sacrificed himself. And Ash was only able to get that far by using Sir Aaron's aura-enhancing gloves."

"So Ash needs a _lot_ of help." Misty added.

Nick nodded. "The problem is that there's no one left to help him. Save for Riley, who's somewhere in Sinnoh, most likely. There was only one other Aura Guardian that ever came up, but he disappeared after saving a town from a Spiritomb with his Pikachu.

"And even when Ash met Riley, he still didn't want to learn about his powers?" she asked.

Nick looked to Ash, still struggling to breathe while being carried by Infernape. "He pretended he didn't even know about them. Over the years, there's been a few times when he encountered something that triggered his powers: a Riolu that needed his help, the various legendary Pokémon he encountered, the inhuman physical feats he's done, and sensing when a Diance could sense a Fairy-type legendary's aura. The list goes on, but he didn't tell anyone, save for those who were with him at the time…." She paused, looking to the ground. "It were times like those that I wished so badly to help him and understand his powers without him fearing that it would change who he is and his journey. I wanted him so badly to know that it wasn't a choice; he can do both by being the hero and becoming a Pokémon Master. But the times when he was forced to use his powers always stemmed from something traumatic, so it's obvious why he would never want to use them."

Misty listened to Nick carefully, taking in every word in order to understand what had happened to her best friend. While she was so angry at him for leaving her behind, she now understood just how hard his journey had been for him. He was in a constant battle with himself, trying to do the right thing or following his dreams. It had to have taken its toll on him, and she wouldn't wish it on anyone.

"I think this is it."

Misty snapped herself out of her musings to see where Nick was straining to look. There was a vast lake in front of them with a small village, Rota, at the edge of the water, and at the center was a castle that loomed in the distance. The gray stone gave Misty a feeling she didn't quite recognize as she got chills from looking up at it.

"The way to the castle is down there, and over that bridge," Nick said, pointing at the cobblestone path ahead of them. "We have to get through the town first though. Let's hurry."

Misty nodded back and the two of them plus Infernape pushed on.

The three arrived at the edge of the town a short while later and ran along the main road with their steps making a clicking sound on the stones. At the end of the path was the bridge, and there was a gate with two guards.

"You seek entrance to Cameron Palace?" the guard on the right asked, loudly. "What is your business with Queen Ilene?" The guard on the left looked at them with more sympathetic eyes, taking in the unconscious teen and the sleeping Pikachu.

"Please, sir," Nick started. "We were attacked outside of Rota. Our friend, Ash Ketchum tried to protect us with Pikachu and got hurt. We need help-"

"Say no more," the guard on the left said. The other guard looked to him. "This is Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. The winner of the Hero of the Year festival about three years ago. He was the one that freed Sir Aaron's Lucario!"

The guard stumbled over his words. "Y-Yes! Of course! Right this way!" The two turned and pushed open the gates, shutting them behind the group. "Hurry!"

The group – now including the two guards – ran across the bridge to the palace. At the entrance, the guards shouted orders to get nurses and to find the Queen. Once inside, two women in white dresses came over to Infernape with a stretcher.

The Flame Pokemon looked hesitantly to Nick as she nodded. He turned back to the women and carefully placed his fallen trainer on the stretcher.

A third nurse came to Nick and held out her arms for Pikachu. "There were a few explosions," Nick explained. "I don't know how badly they're injured. But-" Nick stopped herself and pulled out her first Pokeball. "My Vulpix is injured too. Please take care of him." she pleaded, her head bowed.

"Of course," the nurse replied quietly. She tightly gripped the Pokeball. "Whatever Sir Ash and his companions need."

Nick gaped for a moment before nodding her head. "Thank you."

Nick walked over to Misty and laid a hand on her shoulder. She could see the tears prickling on the brim of her eyes. But the two girls whipped around when they heard the distant sound of heels running on marble.

Descending from the stairs behind them – faster than either of them would have thought possible – Nick recognized Queen Ilene in a blue, semi-casual, floor-length gown. Her expression screamed of fear as she rushed over to them, completely losing her royal façade. On her heels was a small Mime Jr. frantically trying to keep up.

"I heard that Ash was here," she said breathlessly as she approached the girls. "He's injured. What happened to him?"

"We were attacked by Team Rocket," Misty said quickly. "Ash tried to protect us, but… he…."

"He tried to use his powers," Nick continued for her. "He never trained though and doesn't know how to use them at all. He's been getting weaker and weaker until this afternoon. He shielded us with aura and collapsed."

Queen Ilene furrowed her brows and nodded her head. She looked to Misty, seemingly in more disarray than Nick. She stepped forward and bowed to her. "We will do everything we can to help him, I assure you. Forgive me for not properly introducing myself. I am Queen Ilene."

"Don't be sorry!" Misty quickly amended. "You cared about Ash. My name is Misty, and this is Nick," she said gesturing. "We're traveling with her on her journey."

"Congratulations on beginning your journey," she said to Nick. "I am sorry about the unfortunate circumstances.

Nick waved her off. "Thank you, but I'm not too concerned about it, to be honest."

Misty's eyes widened briefly for a moment, but Queen Ilene smiled. "I gather that you're here more for the journey than the destination."

"Yes, I am." Nick nodded. "But back to Ash, if you will," she began as politely as she could, "how can we help him?"

Queen Ilene closed her eyes in thought. "I believe you will find answers at the Tree of Beginning."

"That's why we headed this way in the first place," Nick said. "The thing is, we came here to find out why Ash suddenly remembered everyone he left behind in addition to his powers." She paused. "We… we were hoping to find Mew."

Queen Ilene nodded. "You're rather wise for someone just starting your journey," she observed.

Nick scratched the tip of her nose. "I'm not exactly from around here."

The queen merely smiled. "Why don't we take this one step at a time?" she asked, sweetly. "Would the two of you like to have dinner with myself and the others in the palace? I can provide rooms for you as well."

Nick and Misty's eyes both widened and they exchanged glances. Misty looked back to Queen Ilene. "That's not really necessary…. We can stay at the Pokemon Center in Rota."

"Nonsense," she said, dismissed. "Ash and his friends are always welcome here."

Nick and Misty bowed. "Thank you very much," Misty said. "Though I wanted to ask you…." Nick looked over to Misty before she continued, "One of the nurses called Ash 'Sir Ash'…."

Queen Ilene giggled, covering her mouth. "It's a rather formal title, but he is a knight, not just from the competition he won but also because he saved Mew and the Tree of Beginning."

Misty and Nick exchanged glances.

"Regardless, may I have one of my staff show each of you to your rooms?" she asked.

"Yes," Nick said. "Thank you."

* * *

There were a few knocks at the door.

Nick turned her head up from petting Riku – paw in a wrap – to see Misty leaning on the door frame. "Hey," she said quietly. "I finished unpacking. The nurses said he was awake, so I was gonna go check on Ash…. Do you wanna come?"

Nick gave her a smile. "You go. I think you need some time to talk."

Misty's mouth formed a little "O" before she nodded. "Yeah…. Wish me luck."

Nick gave her a small wave. "You'll be fine."

Misty allowed her a small smile back as she left to room and turned down the hallway.

The palace was enormous and immaculate. The walls were adorned with painting of the various royalty and knights of Cameron. Misty's footsteps echoed through the halls despite the rug lining it from the sheer height of the building.

Just two doors from where Nick's room was, a door was just cracked open just enough for Misty to slide her hand through and pull it open. She was met with a few glances from all of Ash's Pokémon before he had noticed his visitor and turned to the doorway.

Seeing her made him frown. "Hey…." He struggled to sit up in bed but pushed up with his elbows.

"Hey," she replied quietly. She stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. The Pokémon seemed to take the hint and retreated to the other side of the room. Pikachu stayed on Ash's pillow as he sat up in bed. Misty noticed that the wound on Ash's head had been cleaned out and covered with a bandage. She winced at the memory of him falling.

Ash noticed this but misinterpreted. "I'm so sorry," he started. "I should have told you sooner. Nick was trying to convince me to tell you, but I didn't know how to or how you'd react, and I just want you to know-"

"Ash." Misty cut him off. He stopped and looked at her. She decided to sit on the edge of the bed next to him. "I'm not mad at you. I understand."

Ash furrowed his brows, unsure if he had heard her right. "You do?"

"Yeah," she said. "I… I'm sorry. I hadn't realized everything you went through. It was no wonder you didn't want to tell me. You were trying to protect me… and who you are. I get it."

Ash was at a loss for words. This was more than the best-case scenario he had imagined in his head. She understood. She wasn't mad. _She_ was sorry.

"You don't have a reason to be sorry, Mist," he said sincerely. "There was nothing you could have done, you know that."

"But that's where you're wrong," she said with a shuddered sigh. Ash cocked his head slightly but listened. "If I wasn't so… so… quick to anger… you might have told me, and you wouldn't have been afraid to be honest with me."

Ash wanted to retort, to say that she was wrong. But in a way, it was at least partially true. "But the other reasons were me, not you." he settled on. "I haven't told anyone about it before. Only the people that were there during those times know. Even Nick, she watched it all happen. But I didn't want you, or Gary, or anyone else to see me differently because of what I am… what I can do…. And I kept it quiet because I'm not even sure what I can do…. I just… I don't want to hurt someone I care about."

Misty bit her bottom lip before reaching out with her hand and resting it on his. Ash looked from their hands overlapped and back to her. Misty suddenly felt her face heat up but disregarded it. "You won't. We're going to help you figure this out. We're here for you. You just have to be honest with us."

Ash gaped for a moment before smiling warmly. He took his free hand and placed it on top of Misty's. "I will be from now on. Count on it."

* * *

Nick was laying down before having jumped slightly when her Xtransceiver began ringing on her wrist. Riku and Charmander looked up, the petting abruptly stopped.

It was Gary.

Nick drew in a breath and sat up before pressing the green answer button on her wrist.

Gary's face came into view, his glasses off, his hair disheveled. He sighed. "Nick," he stated.

The girl in question merely blinked. "This is she."

"Arceus," Gary cursed, running a hand through his hair. "I just got off the phone with Brock. Are you alright?"

Nick cocked an eyebrow at the wrist-phone. "Uh… yes? How did you-?"

"Brock called me. Misty had called him. He thought of updating me since I'm your tech guy, essentially," he said with a roll of his eyes.

"So my tech guy is calling me, cursing and frantic because why?" Nick asked skeptically.

"This isn't funny," he said in a more serious tone. Nick swallowed. "I was really worried something had happened to you. And after our last conversation…. I would have felt awful…." He trailed off, not knowing how else to phrase it.

Nick huffed. "It's my fault." she said quickly. "Not the attack but what happened the last time we spoke. I was just getting emotional because I don't care about playing this stupid game anymore. I want to help Ash and all of you try to figure out what's going on. Do you realize that now?"

Gary nodded. "I do. That's why I felt so badly. I misjudged you. And I'm sorry for that."

Nick pursed her lips. "Don't be."

There was an awkward break in conversation for a moment before Gary cut the silence. "Can I ask you something?"

Nick smirked. "Shoot."

"Why haven't you had a break yet?"

Nick's voice caught in her throat.

"Something's wrong, isn't there?"

Nick looked down to her Pokemon, seemingly startled by her reaction. "I can't leave."

"Why not?" Gary pressed.

"No, you don't understand," Nick said. "The logout button is gone."

Gary stopped for a moment. "You're serious?"

Nick nodded, defeated.

"Do Ash and Misty know about this?"

"No. And I'd rather keep it that way."

"Always the secrets with you three…." Gary mused. "But I get it. There's no reason for them to worry about what might be happening to you too. Your secret's safe with me."

She sighed. "Thank you, Gary."

"Here's the thing though," he continued. "There's no way for me to search for answers outside of the game. Which means that there's no way for me to tell you how long you've been here. Where were you when you logged in?"

"In my dorm."

"At school?"

"Yeah."

Gary nodded. "So you were alone?" he asked. Nick nodded back. "How long do you think it'll take for someone to notice you're missing?"

"I… I'm not sure." she answered honestly. Then she added, "I had my reasons for going _away_ to college."

Gary put a hand to his chin. "Okay. This means one of two things from my guesses. Either you haven't been found yet, or whoever found you can't get you out for some reason."

"If I wasn't found yet though, how long have I been out? I can't last too long without food and water, right?"

"Unless the game is somehow keeping you alive…."

A chill ran down Nick's spine and she breathed in sharply.

Gary picked up his glasses and replaced them on his face. "You've been here for what? A little over a week?"

Nick nodded.

"I think it's safer to say that someone on the outside is taking care of you. But to be on the cautious side, I'm going to do everything I can to figure out what's going on with you on my end."

"And I'm going to find out what's happening to Ash and everyone here."

"I guess we both have our work cut out for us then," Gary said with a smirk.

Nick allowed a small laugh. "I guess we do."

Gary smiled back. "Just keep in touch, alright?"

"I will…." she trailed off. "And Gary?"

He looked up at her just before he was going to end the call.

"Thank you for worrying about me. It means a lot."

The normally-cocky teen flashed Nick a grin. "All in a day's work."

* * *

 **[A/N: 3-22-17]: I absolutely LOVED writing this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed this one! There's more to come, and I'm definitely doing my best to keep up the pace! The next chapter of a story up will be for Binge Drinking, my DP fanfic I've adopted from Draco09 on fanfiction. One of these days I'm going to get around to finishing up Defying the Gods, my Smite/SAO crossover fic, but for now, it's just these two beauties. Please review and stay tuned!**


	9. Hassle in the Castle

Hassle in the Castle

* * *

The three trainers staying at Cameron Palace ate a feast of a breakfast with Queen Ilene and some of the others living in the palace with her. Each of their Pokemon even had a place at the table with food catered to each of their types.

Ash had only half a plate by the time the girls were done, excusing himself and getting up from the table.

Misty glanced up at him, ready to follow, but Nick put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a smile.

Nick jogged after him briefly to catch up, what with how much taller he was than her. "Ash," she said, grasping his wrist.

"You didn't have to do that," he said, stopping in his tracks. "I knew you were behind me."

Nick's mouth gaped open briefly, releasing his arm.

"I can sense you guys pretty clearly here," he explained, finally turning to face her. "Misty's Aura is yellow… you're a soft orange."

For a moment, Nick didn't respond. Then she settled on asking, "Is it because we're so close to the Tree again?"

Ash nodded. "Since I woke up yesterday, I've been feeling…" Ash trailed off, glancing down at his hands. Nick followed his gaze and saw that when he opened his hands, blue and green wisps of energy flared up before he clasped his hands shut again and closed his eyes. "…powerful."

"Is that why you couldn't eat?" she asked.

Ash merely shrugged his shoulders, not looking up at her.

"Hey," Nick said, reaching out to his shoulder.

What she didn't expect was for Ash to jump back without even looking at her. "Don't."

Stunned by his reaction, Nick just stared for a moment before lowering her hand. "Ash…."

"I don't…" Ash clenched his eyes shut tighter and turned away. "I don't want to her you… or Misty."

Nick pursed her lips and stepped toward him again, reaching out. "Let us help you."

"I said, _don't_ ," he grunted, taking another step forward. Then he suddenly ran down the hallway.

"Ash!" Nick called out. She wasn't about to leave him alone though. She didn't want him to hurt himself by accident… or anyone else for that matter. But she didn't let that cloud her thoughts. Ash would never hurt anyone on purpose, but without knowledge of his powers, he might lose control.

"Nick?" It was Misty's voice that she heard behind her, and turning to face her, Nick saw the worry in her eyes.

"Come on," Nick said in a rush. She took off down the hallway, Misty in tow.

"What's going on?" Misty asked, easily catching up to Nick with her height.

"Ash is worried about his powers," she said between breaths. "He's afraid of hurting someone… well, us…. And then he took off."

Nick looked over to see Misty narrow her eyes down the hall. She could see that he was heading to his room alone, having left the other Pokemon at the table, even Pikachu.

"Ash!" Misty yelled. "Don't do this! Let us help you!"

But Ash approached his door, and went to swing it shut before the other two could reach him.

Misty, however, was determined. She sprinted forward and slammed her shoulder hard into the wooden, ornate door, just barely keeping the crack open. "Ash Ketchum, open this Mew-damned door, right now!"

Nick quickly caught up, watching the scene unfold. She eyed Misty briefly before running at the door head-on and side-kicked it open further.

But with Ash feeling the full effect of the Tree of Beginning and the heart of Aura's energy, Ash was much stronger than Nick had predicted, and held onto it pretty steadily. Nick hit the ground with a thud beside Misty. Looking down at Nick, Misty hesitated but was able to quickly push harder on the door with Ash distracted by the sound of his companion hitting the ground.

Slamming the door open, Misty sauntered in toward Ash, fists clenched tight.

Nick was just getting up from the ground, watching this unfold, hoping that nothing too harsh came from this.

"Ash Ketchum," Misty started, grasping his collar in her fist and jabbing a finger into his chest with the other hand, "you are going to let us help you with whatever the hell you're dealing with whether you like it or not!"

Ash clenched his teeth, balling his fists in an attempt to keep his anger – and fear – down. "Misty, I'm going to say it once, and you're going to back off. So back… off." he said, his voice quivering just slightly.

Misty's eyes widened for only a moment before grasping him tighter and pulling his face down, closer to her own. "And _I'm_ telling _you_ , no!"

"Misty," Ash said, his voice lowered, warningly "you need to let go of me…."

Nick peaked around Misty to see Ash's reaction to her and noted the glow of his fists. "Misty, I think Ash might be right…."

"Like hell, he is!" she spat. "He would never do anything to hurt us, and I'm not gonna let him hurt himself!"

"But Misty-"

"Shut up, Nick!"

"Misty, get back!" Nick shouted, running at them.

In just moments, Nick had seen the balls of light forming from Ash's hands begin to grow and flare with a blue-green fiery energy. Ash had panted in pain, desperately trying to keep it down, but he couldn't hold out any longer.

Just as Nick had jumped at Ash, tackling him out of Misty's surprised grasp, the energy from Ash's hands exploded outward in a force-field, knocking Misty back into the door behind them.

Misty slowly opened her eyes, holding her aching head. She gasped when she recalled what Nick had done for her and looked over to see the two of them on the ground by Ash's bed.

Nick had tackled Ash down onto the bed and away from Misty to protect her because she had known what they were really dealing with when Misty didn't.

Nick's crumpled form was over Ash, who was wincing and panting in a last attempt to calm the energy down. When he finally breathed out, he carefully laid his hand on Nick's back, and turned her over to lay her head in his other hand on his lap.

"No…." Ash mumbled mostly to himself.

Misty got up slowly and hesitantly walked over to the bed. She looked slowly from Nick up to Ash's face. He cradled Nick's body closer to himself as his shoulders shook with sobs. He rested his forehead on hers and ran his other hand through her long hair.

"Ash… it's not-" Misty started.

"What?" he spat back, lifting his head and looking to Misty. "Not my _fault_?"

Misty bit her bottom lip, unsure of how to respond.

"I was protecting you… from _me_ …. _She_ was protecting you from _me_ …."

Just then, Nick stirred and Ash gaped down at her.

"Nick!" Misty said quickly. "Nurses! Quickly!" Misty called as she ran out into the hallway.

"Ash…" Nick said, her voice barely audible.

Ash looked back down to Nick, tears running down his cheeks. "I'm sorry…. I'm so-"

"Ash," Nick repeated, getting his attention again. She tried to reassure him with having enough strength to reach her hand up and wipe away a tear. "Let me protect you, too."

Ash was speechless once again as his lip quivered and he hugged her close to him.

"It's alright…." she whispered.

* * *

A few hours later, the three trainers had packed all of their things once Nick was taken care of. She had no external injuries but was considerably tired after everything that happened. The other two insisted on waiting, but Nick was persistent; they were headed to the Tree of Beginning for answers.

"If we want Ash to feel right again, we have to help him first," she had said.

"But what about you?" Misty asked. "You need to rest."

"This isn't about me," she said, shaking her head. "This is about Ash."

The person in question said nothing, knowing full well that he wouldn't be able to convince Nick otherwise. She was nearly as stubborn as Misty, but she knew he was only looking out for her.

"Thank you for all of your help Queen Ilene," Ash said with the three of them bowing to her. "I don't know what we would have done without you."

Queen Ilene merely smiled. "It's the least I could do for you, Sir Ash." He winced slightly at the formality, but Queen Ilene giggled a bit covering her mouth. "I actually have something for you," she added.

Ash raised an eyebrow, and Mime Jr. hobbled out from behind her leg, holding up two long blue gloves with a jewel on the back of each hand.

"Are those…?" Nick asked.

"Yes, those are a pair of Sir Aaron's gloves," she confirmed. "He had quite a few since he was in the army to protect this kingdom. These gloves were more of a formal pair, but they should get the job done."

Ash merely stared at them for a long moment before taking a step back… then another.

"Ash…?" Misty prodded.

"I… I can't…." he stammered.

Nick quickly reached out and grasped his shoulder. He turned and looked at her, startled by this, but she nodded her head at him. "You can do this. Those gloves will only help you when you're being overwhelmed by your powers."

"Lucario…." he mumbled. "Sir Aaron…." Ash continued staring down at the gloves, leaving Mime Jr. confused. Finally, he shook his head and leaned down, nodding to Mime Jr. and picking them up. He held them for a moment before carefully sliding each one onto his hands, over his fingerless gloves.

Nick, Misty, Queen Ilene, and a few other palace staff looked on with baited breath. After a moment of watching, nothing happened.

"How do they feel?" Nick asked carefully.

"I feel in control," he said, flexing his fingers. He smiled and looked to the queen. "Thank you so much."

She nodded back to him. "My pleasure. All of you, please take care."

* * *

The group had been walking up toward the Tree for a few hours when night began to fall.

"You know, it would have been nice to drive up," Misty muttered.

"Well it's not like I had any time to learn how to drive," Ash retorted.

Nick rubbed her arm sheepishly. "Me either, unfortunately."

"And what about you?" Ash asked her. "Didn't you have time at the gym?"

"Uh, in case you didn't realize, I was busy running a business while training my sister at the same time. That's sort of a full-time job." she replied. "When was I supposed to learn how to drive?"

"Bottom line," Nick interjected, "is that none of us can drive. Let's just make camp for the night."

"That sounds good to me," Ash said, stretching.

"Chaaaa…" Pikachu yawned.

Misty pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned. "Let me heat up some water for soup…. Can one of you get out a fire-type please?"

"Charmander, let's go!" Nick called out, spinning her Pokeball.

Appearing in front of them was a pretty large-sized Charmander, flexing.

Nick rolled her eyes at him. "Alright, hot-shot, make us a little fire, okay?"

Ash snickered under his breath while Misty just shook her head.

"What am I gonna do with you two?" she groaned again. "Azumarill, come out!"

The Aqua Rabbit Pokemon appeared in a flash of light and cooed happily to be out of its Pokeball again. Pikachu immediately hopped over and Azumarill nuzzled into him.

"I just need you to make a pot of water," Misty explained, pulling a small pot out from her bag.

"Azu!" she cried, sending water into the pot.

Charmander hobbled over with an armful of logs and immediately set it on fire. It happened too quickly for the trainers to have made a pit or circle of rocks to contain it, and the flames started to spread around them.

"Azumarill!" Misty called out. The said Pokemon shot water out in a Hydro Pump around all of them, putting out the flames and dowsing everyone in water.

"Charmander!" Ash and Misty yelled at the same time.

That said Pokemon looked on with eyes wide before putting his head down.

"Wait! Don't yell at him!" Nick said immediately.

"But he nearly killed us!" Misty yelped.

"Like father, like son," Ash said, shaking his head.

"No guys…. You don't understand," Nick said, kneeling in front of Charmander. He was tall enough to almost be at eye level with her when she kneeled. "Charmander?" she asked. He slowly lifted his head to look at her, tears brimming on his eyes. "You didn't mean to do that, right? You were just trying to help out."

The little fire-type Lizard Pokemon nodded his head ever-so-slightly.

Nick smiled at him and picked him up in her arms – albeit with some effort – and turned to the others. "See? It was an accident. He may be a tough guy like dad, but he's also a softie like mom." He looked up at Nick and smiled.

Misty and Ash looked to each other before sighing. Ash scratched the back of his neck. "Ugh…. I'm sorry, Charmander. I didn't mean to yell."

"Yeah," Misty added, "I shouldn't have judged you like that so quickly."

Nick gaped for a moment before smiling. "Ash?"

"Yeah, Nick?"

"How do you feel?"

He narrowed his eyes for a moment before they widened. He held out his hands in front of him, staring down at them. He stretched them out a bit before clenching his fists triumphantly and smiling back at Nick.

"I feel really good!"

* * *

Sometime during the night, Ash slipped out of his tent and walked away from the camp. They had settled on a grassy hill at the edge of a forest. He looked out over the hill and up at the sky. It was completely clear, stars dusting the deep blue above him.

Finding a comfortable spot, Ash settled himself on the ground and looked down from the sky to his gloved hands. Before bed, he had removed the fingerless gloves to put these over his bare hands for comfort. But he was skeptical about taking them off totally and hadn't voiced this to Misty or Nick.

Ash carefully removed the glove from his left hand and stretched out his fingers.

Just then, he gasped and scrambled to put the glove back on before the presence behind him came to sit at his side.

It was yellow.

"Hey, what's got you up?" Misty asked, sitting beside him.

Ash fixed his gloves on his hands and pursed his lips. He clasped his hands in two fists and looked away.

Misty caught this however, and gently laid her hands over his. She felt him tense under her, but she dismissed it and squeezed his hands.

"Misty, don't-"

"Let me," she insisted.

Ash furrowed his brows at her, and she held out one of his hands and pulled off a glove. She put her hand in his, her face flushing. Luckily it was dark enough that he hadn't noticed.

"How could something so wonderful be so dangerous?" she asked gently.

Ash gaped at her, unsure of how to react.

"Well don't just stare at me!" Misty yelped. She shoved Ash's shoulder with her other hand. "You have no idea how to take a compliment, do you?"

Ash simmered slightly. "A compliment? You said I'm dangerous." he said, starting to slide the glove back on.

"No, you dork, you're a klutz!" she said, giving him another shove.

At this, Ash smirked at her. "You trip and fall just as much as I do," he shot back. "Sometimes you even cause me to fall!" He gave her a gentle nudge back.

"I'm sorry, what was that, Ash Ketchum?" she said, annunciating each syllable.

"I said," he started, exaggerating every sound, "you cause _me_ to fall." He gave her another, harder shove.

"Oh yeah?" Misty shot back with another nudge.

"Yeah!" he said.

"Maybe I do!" At this, Misty jumped at Ash – much to his surprise – and tackled him sending the two of them both rolling down the hill.

They toppled all the way to the bottom, coming up on a small pond at the base of a waterfall. The two hadn't realized how far they'd go, but at the bottom, Misty had Ash pinned to the ground by his wrists.

"Gotcha!" she shouted in his face.

"Eww! Mist, you spit on me!"

"Ugh! Like you haven't done that when you're chowing down on your food!"

When Ash looked around, laughing, he saw the flower on the ground beside them begin to open up. "A time flower…." he said in awe.

"A what?" Misty asked, trying to catch her breath.

Ash started to sit up, gently pushing Misty of off him. She followed his gaze to the flower suddenly blooming next to them. She stared in wonder as Ash crawled over to it and cradled the petals in his gloved hands.

Suddenly, a glowing white orb rose up and floated out of the center, making the entire flower glow blue.

Around them, the world seemed to brighten slightly, and everything around them began to glow. Ash slowly turned when he heard laughing behind him.

As if in a daydream, Ash saw May, Max, Brock, Pikachu and even Kidd coming out from the van and behind it in their bathing suits.

"Hey you guys!"

Ash and Misty turned to look up at the rocks to see a younger Ash in his own swimsuit calling them from the rocks. And just as Ash remembered it, he slipped down and plunged into the water below.

"Ash? What's happening?" Misty asked, obviously startled.

"It's a time flower." he explained. "It's a look into the past."

Then, Ash heard a scoff behind him. And turning – once again – Ash saw him there, perched on a rock in a meditating position.

"Lu… Lucario…." Ash started. He stood and slowly walked toward the rock where the Pokemon sat.

The Aura Pokemon suddenly stood, muttering something to himself unintelligibly.

"No!" Ash shouted, starting to run toward him. "Don't go!"

"Ash! What are you doing?!" Misty yelled, running after him.

"Lucario! Come back!" Ash yelled, running after him.

But Lucario wasn't really there. He couldn't hear Ash, and he surely wasn't standing in front of him but walking away.

Ash panted as he ran, and he started to get faster, the glow of aura starting to encase his body.

Misty's eyes widened, struggling more and more to keep up with him. "Ash, no!"

" _Lucario!"_ he screamed, just as the time flower's glowing energy floated back down and the petals closed around it. The only thing left glowing in the empty grass around them was Ash.

"What's going on?!" Nick yelped, sliding down the hill to Misty with Pikachu on her shoulder, Riku and Charmander behind her.

"It was a time flower," she said quickly. "He saw Lucario and something that must have happened here!"

Nick looked around, instantly recognizing the waterfall from a time some years ago, though never truly being there. She snapped her gaze over to Ash who was shaking and glowing with a fiery aura around him of mixed blues and greens.

"Ash!" Misty called with his back still to them. She went to race forward again, but Nick caught her wrist. Misty spun on her, but Nick shook her head. The two looked back to Ash, who had yet to move, still shaking.

Finally, Ash let out a blood-curdling scream, sending energy shooting up into the air in a beam of light. The two girls watched in horror as the sky seemed to part with energy splitting a hole through it.

The screaming abruptly stopped and all heads turned back to Ash, who then collapsed to his hands and knees on the rock Lucario had supposedly disappeared from.

"Pikapi!"

The sound of Pikachu's cry seemed to stir something in everyone as they all rushed to Ash's side. Misty and Nick were on either side of him, hugging each shoulder.

There wasn't much else they could do but hold on as Ash shook with sobs long contained.

* * *

The following morning wasn't exactly an easy one. Everyone was exhausted from the night before, but fortunately, they were almost at the base of the Tree.

"As long as we have our Pokemon with us, and we touch as little as possible, we should be safe from the Tree's defense system." Ash concluded.

"It's more like an immune system," Nick explained. "It fought off everyone like someone's response to an infection, including the engulfing part."

Misty's skin crawled at the thought. "Well, we're not doing anything invasive. We're just here to ask some questions."

The group happened upon a cave leading into the Tree without incident.

"Charmander, let's go!" Nick called out.

"Chaaaaaar!" the little orange Pokemon cheered.

"Alright, time for a little redemption," Nick said, kneeling down. "We need you to light the way into the Tree of Beginning. Can you do that?"

"Char!" he cheered. He stepped forward and swung his tail a little side-to-side to illuminate the cave.

The rest followed suit into the tunnel. It wasn't too small with enough height for them to all stand and then some, but it wasn't more than five feet wide and lined with sharp crystals.

It didn't take long for Ash to get curious though. He squinted at the crystals through the dark, sensing an energy coming from them. Tentatively, he reached out and brushed his gloved fingers along a crystal.

Instantly, the cavern's crystals lit up further and further along the walls, giving the whole cave a blue glow. Misty and Nick looked around in awe at the colors dancing around the walls and ceiling and back to Ash. They both smiled at him.

"You did this?" Misty asked in wonder.

Ash shrugged. "I remembered that the first time we walked through here, the cave lit up around us just like this. I guess it was Lucario that did it then."

Ash briefly looked over to Nick who smiled back at him, reassuringly.

Nick turned when she heard Charmander sigh, dejected. She gave him a little pat on the head. "We could still use more light, buddy. Keep up the good work!" she insisted with a thumbs up and a wink. He instantly perked back up, puffing out his chest, making Nick stifle a giggle.

Close to an hour later, there was indeed a light at the end of the tunnel. They came to a ledge at the end of the tunnel, staring out over the ecosystem that was the center of the Tree of Beginning.

All kinds of Pokemon, ancient and modern alike, ran around the grassy plains and hills of the forest. There were lakes and ponds with water types, trees with flying types and normal types, hot springs with some fire types, and many rocks types of the ancient world throughout.

"Might as well let everyone explore," Ash said. "We don't have Kidd's equipment causing problems this time, so our Pokemon should see this too."

"Sounds good to me!" Nick agreed. "Riku!" she called, throwing his Pokeball straight up and catching it as the little fire type popped out in front of her.

"Come on out everyone!" Misty called, releasing her six water type Pokemon. Golduck, Starmie, Kingdra, Gyarados, Azumarill, and Corsola all emerged and ran – or rolled or hopped – down the hill to the water.

"Everybody, come out!" Ash called this time. Charizard, Sceptile, Infernape, and Samurott all came out and hurried after Misty's Pokemon, Pikachu, Riku, and Charmander not far behind.

The three trainers followed close behind to keep an eye on their Pokemon but looked on in awe of the secluded ecosystem all the same.

Ash in particular seemingly enjoyed the air. He closed his eyes and opened his arms wide, breathing in deeply.

Misty watched him from a safe distance, smiling at how relaxed he seemed to be for the first time since they started their journey together.

Meanwhile, Ash was merely feeling the world around him. The atmosphere around Cameron Palace had opened up his senses to the world around him so much more than he ever had been aware of. With his eyes closed, he could sense the bright yellow of Misty's presence close by and Nick's softer orange glow by the hot springs, splashing with Riku and Charmander.

He could feel every living thing around him so much more than he could see them. He was tempted to even take off the gloves to see the full extent of his ability to feel everything, but the presence of Nick, Misty, Pikachu, and all of the Pokemon kept him from doing something stupid. He wanted to know what he could do, but he couldn't do it at the risk of hurting anyone.

As Ash was standing there taking everything in, he suddenly opened his eyes when he felt a new aura emerge from high above the trees. It was so bright in his mind's eye, but the color was still obvious: a very bright pink.

Ash's breath caught, recognizing this feeling instantly. With Misty looking on curiously, she furrowed her brows at his sudden change in demeanor. Then Ash made eye contact with Misty to confirm that something was off, but it was more of a look somewhere between anxiety and excitement rather than fear.

By the water, the Pokemon suddenly stopped playing to look up. Nick was a little delayed in noticing, much to the chagrin of Charmander, but when she saw him shake it off rather quickly, she also looked around her.

Ash and Misty followed the gazes of the Pokemon around them to the center of the cavern that seemed to have its own sun. But while the others were squinted up at what it could be, Ash knew before the little pink cat-like Pokemon descended in front of him.

"Mew…." he whispered.

The beginning of life, the God of Pokemon, and the source of power for everything, floated in front of Ash, circling around him, giggling and spinning excitedly, cheering her name.

Ash couldn't help but laugh. "It's good to see you too!" He looked over at Misty who was tentatively watching from a distance, and he waved her over. She slowly walked over and smiled at the pink Pokemon. She responded by also circling around Misty and making her laugh, relieving her uneasiness. Ash saw Nick also watching them and beckoned her to join them.

Nick was more than a little hesitant, however. In the real world, she was by no means a religious person. In her mind, seeing was believing for the most part. But the one thing that had always surpassed that belief was Pokemon. It was apparent to the others already that she loved it; she watched the show, the movies, played the game, had the toys…. But she never could have imagined standing before the origin of life itself. The thought was unbelievable.

And the event was overwhelming.

Unlike Ash, Nick was outside of their timeline. She _did_ remember the events that happened involving Mew and Mewtwo when Ash had first started his journey. She remembered the clones and why Mewtwo had lured trainers to that island. And she remembered how Mew had done everything she could to stop the fighting.

As a kid, Nick couldn't grasp the brutality of the situation; she had thought it was more or less a giant battle. But the reality of the situation was much graver than that. And had Ash not intervened, all of those Pokemon could have been badly hurt.

At that last thought, Nick had to pause for a moment to think. She was _a kid_ when that happened. But here she was, with _Ash,_ years later, and was now _older_ than him from the result of that strangely delayed world she was now a part of.

Shaking the thought, she saw Ash and Misty waving her over, and she took that as a cue to put aside her previous apprehension. She smiled down at her Pokemon before standing up and wringing out her shirt a bit. She breathed in and held her breath as she walked over.

The pink Pokemon had yet to notice her even walking over because she had been preoccupied with circling around Ash and Misty. When she finally realized she was coming, she smiled and let out a meek, "Mew!"

She had noticed Mew's sudden realization she approached. She couldn't tell if this god of a creature had actually planned on giving Nick time to process and come over, timing it perfectly, or if she just had the knowledge of Nick's presence.

Either way, it unnerved her.

Regardless, Mew quickly floated over to Nick. She flew straight into the crook of her neck, nuzzling the trainer under the chin. Nick's breath caught for the second time in the past two minutes, and her body immediately tensed up at the touch.

But upon realizing the feeling Mew gave her, Nick's body finally relaxed. Nick could not think of a real-world animal or Pokemon she had met that had felt softer or warmer than Mew made her feel right now.

She knew that if someone were to ask her what genuine good felt like, it was Mew.

Nick laughed, releasing the tension she had felt since seeing the New Species Pokemon.

Mew seemed to understand – answering Nick's question – and giggled as well. She floated away from Nick and made circles between the three trainers. Finally, she started muttering her name over and over in an attempt to tell them all something.

While the three of them looked confused, all of their own Pokemon came over to make sense of what was happening.

"Mew," Nick started, tentatively, "we really need your help. Ash needs a better way to control his powers…. What do we do?" She ended the question as if questioning herself and looked to Ash and Misty shrugging just the same.

Finally, Mew seemed to sigh before floating away from them. The three trainers called after Mew, but the Pokemon merely circled in the air, gesturing to follow her. Misty, Ash and Nick all looked to each other and immediately began recalling all of their Pokemon. Pikachu hopped up onto Ash's shoulder, taking off after Mew.

The pink Pokemon led them all down a hill, the trainers stumbling on the slick dew-covered grass. At the base of the hill, the three – plus Pikachu – toppled over each other and landed in a heap.

Ash was the first to recover, spitting out a mouthful of flower petals. He slowly looked around and realized where they had fallen.

They were surrounded by a field of blues, purples and greens… all of the colors were the petals of time flowers.

Misty and Nick quickly sat up, caressing hurt limbs, but both of them looked on in awe at the field around them. They noticed Ash's reaction, and Nick told her, "They're all time flowers…." in obvious disbelief herself.

Mew appeared above them, still giggling at their misfortune, but happy all the same. She floated down to them and tugged on Ash, pulling him through the flowers. Nick and Misty hurried after them, Pikachu hopping up on Misty's shoulder.

Mew finally came to a halt at the center of the field, floating down and hovering over a flower.

This particular flower was much larger than all of the rest. It was bright blue and green, and it was glowing before Mew had even hovered above it. It was even seemingly in bloom.

As Ash approached – the girls close behind – the flower seemingly shined brighter and brighter, until he was standing at the base of it. He knelt down in front of the flower – about the size of a watermelon in diameter – and hesitantly looked up at Mew directly above it. Mew nodded and smiled encouragingly toward the flower.

But Nick had already known him well enough by now. Ash looked back to the two of them, first to Nick, who nodded. But then she noticed the way he looked at Misty. She smiled in encouragement.

Nick felt a strong sensation of déjà vu ripple through her, followed by swallowing down an emotion she didn't quite recognize. Somehow, Pikachu had the change in her demeanor and perked his ears up, looking over. Nick turned away.

Ash carefully reached out with both hands, cupping the oversized flower in them.

The flower immediately burned brighter than before, and a glowing ball of white light erupted from its core.

But unlike the flowers that opened up to Ash's touch before, this one's glowing orb rose up, and the light faded. There was no image appearing, there was no other-worldly flashback, and there was no feeling of déjà vu.

When the glowing abruptly stopped, the glowing orb was actually more than light; it was a physically crystal, albeit small.

Ash put his hands out, and the crystal fell slowly out of the air, and into his gloved hands. Mouth hanging open, Ash handled the crystal in his right hand, and pulled off his left glove with his teeth. He reached out with his right, ungloved hand.

Upon contact with his pointer and thumb, there was an eruption of light, causing everyone to shield their eyes, Pikachu letting out a yelp of surprise.

When Nick saw the light fade, she lowered her hand and she and Misty ran to Ash's side with Pikachu.

"What was that?" Misty practically shrieked. She wrapped her arms around Ash's shoulder. "Are you okay?!"

"I'm fine," he said, breathlessly. "Look." Ash held up the stone, glowing every color of the rainbow with a distinctive symbol in the center of the abnormally-sized crystal orb.

Nick gasped. "A Key Stone."

* * *

"We've gotta tell da boss!" Meowth exclaimed, peering through the bushes.

"Already on it," James said, typing on a laptop rapidly.

"Well hurry it up," Jessie said. "He needs to know there's a goldmine down here!"

"But wait," James pointed out, "if we tell the boss that the twerp is the one that opened the time flower, it'll get out that he's the Chosen One and all of that jazz."

"Well duh," Jessie said, rolling her eyes. "Don't tell the boss the twerp opened it. Just say that we followed him here and we found Mew. He knows that Mew was found here last time anyway. Honestly, I'm surprised he hasn't destroyed this place yet."

"It's simple math," Meowth started, "da area is outside of the Kanto border, so if da boss goes into the Tree of Beginning, he could start a huge mess!"

"Keep it down!" Jessie hissed. "Don't let them hear you. Just tell him about the Key Stones, and remind him about Mew."

* * *

In an office of an undisclosed location, a very particular man sat at his desk, run his free hand through the fur of the Persian on his lap.

The sneer that appeared on his face as he eyes scanned through the message would send chills down anyone's spine.

The smile wasn't just at the information he had read, however.

In a separate tab he clicked on, was a live video feed of the Team Rocket trio in position. He zoomed in on the boy was the raven hair as he spoke with his friends and the Pokemon hovering above him.

"I think it's time we meet our golden boy face-to-face again," he hissed. "Wouldn't you say?"

The Classy Cat purred on his touch.

* * *

 **[A/N 4-29-17]: Hello everyone! Thank you so much for reading my story! It has been a true pride of mine, and I can't wait to see the responses to the chapter! Thank you for your reviews as well!**

 **Side note here! So I know I'm going to get a bunch of people saying that I made Ash's powers kind of contradict themselves. That was done on purpose. It's to show that while the gloves help, they're still highly unstable, and he still needs to practice with them. It also shows Ash's biggest weakness: emotions. He needs to get a better handle on his feelings, and I hoped that this chapter has revealed that to you guys!**

 **I actually need your help! So I think the summary of this story on FF/AO3 is pretty awful, so if anyone would be so kind as to write something up and send me a message, I would really love and appreciate the help! Of course, I'll give you a shout-out in the next chapter! You can PM me or shoot me a message at trainernick on Tumblr!**


	10. Two Degrees of Separation

"A Key Stone…?" Misty started. "But there wasn't one in the first time flower Ash opened," she said, looking to Nick.

"I don't know," she began slowly. "I don't remember ever seeing something like this before…."

Meanwhile, Mew was smiling down at Ash while he continued staring at his palm in awe. It continued to glow, changing between every color slowly but beautifully. He stood up then and turned to Misty and Nick. "Why did Mew have me find this?"

Nick put a hand to her chin in thought. "Well, it doesn't look like a regular Key Stone," she commented with an eye on it, "because normal Key Stones don't glow like _that_."

Misty nodded. "I've heard of them before but haven't gotten to see one before! It's amazing…." she breathed.

Mew just continued to smile and circle around the stumped trainers she giggled while putting a pink paw to her mouth before taking to the skies again.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu called, pointing to where Mew had just been. But by the time Ash and the others had turned around, Mew was gone.

"Well now what?" Ash grunted. "We were supposed to ask her about this stuff…."

Nick didn't need powers to feel the disappointment emanating from Ash in that moment. She groaned, "Why do gods always have to be so damn cryptic?"

* * *

After the three trainers had made their way back to Cameron Palace, they bade their thanks and goodbyes before heading back into the forest southbound. Nick's next Gym Battle would be in Cerulean City, and Misty was hoping to see how her sisters were fairing without her. But she couldn't help but feel a little mentally exhausted after learning so much she hadn't known about her best friend.

But Nick's Gym Battle was the last thing on her mind. They had gotten so close to finding out what was going on with Ash, and Mew had left them in the same cycle of questions they were in before they had gotten to the Tree of Beginning. It was a new sting for Nick, more personal, to see this happen with a legendary Pokemon first-hand.

Ash's thoughts were similarly clouded.

Why did Mew show him this particular Key Stone? He felt the presence of it heavy in his pocket, glowing whenever he touched it.

He remembered painfully back to Kalos and Greninja. But before the overwhelming memories could take hold, he diverted his thoughts back to the present.

How was the Key Stone going to help them find out what was happening? Why were his powers coming back? What if his powers were attracting legendary Pokemon?

Ash swallowed hard. A new thought occurred to him.

What if _Pokemon_ weren't what they needed to be worried about?

Which is why when a small Pokemon came charging at them at full speed, he hadn't noticed until Nick had been knocked on her back.

"Nick!" Misty yelped as she and Ash knelt at her side. "Are you alright?"

Clenching her eyes shut, she rubbed her sore back. She sat up. "Yeah, I'm fine. This little guy jumped into my arms," she said, holding up the little blue Pokemon at arm's length. Her eyes widened. "It's a Nidoran!" she chirped.

"It's a female, too," Ash said, taking out his Pokedex.

Misty opened her mouth to voice her concern, but the ground began to rumble beneath them, and the three trainers heard a roar coming from behind them where Nidoran had run from.

The three stood up quickly, Pikachu running in front of the group protectively, Misty pulling out and enlarging a Pokeball, and Nick hugged the Nidoran close to her chest.

As the branches in front of them came crashing to the ground in front of them, Nick called it first. "Tyranitar!"

"Samurott, I choose you!" Ash called, grabbing the ball from his belt and tossing it in front of them.

"Starmie! Help us out!" Misty called.

"Why are you chasing this Nidoran?" Nick asked, clutching said Pokemon a little tighter. She looked up at the trainer, tears in its eyes.

But before a fight could break out, Ash lowered his arm and recalled Samurott. He stepped forward toward the Armor Pokemon, a hand outstretched.

"Ash! Are you crazy?!" Misty shouted.

Nick's eyes widened. She put her free hand on Misty's shoulder. "Wait a second, Misty. I think Ash is okay."

The two looked back to Ash where he was slowly walking up to the Pokemon that towered over him. They saw him smile. "It's good to see you again, Larvitar. Do you remember me?"

All at once, Nick and Misty's jaws dropped, Ash held out his arms, and the six-foot-seven, four hundred and fifty pound Pokemon stared… then broke down in sobs, sitting on the ground and clutching Ash into its chest.

Nick and Misty looked on with respective dumb-founded expressions as Ash rubbed the Pokemon's back. Pikachu ran up behind him and jumped onto Ash's shoulder, putting his tiny paws on the Pokemon.

Seemingly having forgotten the Nidoran, Nick held her out in front of her, giving it a look. "So you wanna tell me why that big dork of a Pokemon was chasing you?"

The smaller Pokemon looked down but pointed to its point atop its forehead. Nick looked over to the Tyranitar and saw the tell-tale purple-inflamed hole at the bottom of one foot.

Nick chuckled. "It almost stepped on you, got hurt, and chased after you, thinking you did it on purpose?"

The Nidoran nodded, burying its face into Nick's shoulder. She pulled back and pet the little one, careful not to touch the point.

Misty began digging through her pull-string. "I think I might have an antidote in here somewhere." In a few seconds, she produced a small spray bottle and walked over to Ash and Tyranitar. "Here," she said, kneeling in front of the two. "This might sting a bit, I'm sorry." She sprayed to antidote and the Pokemon's leg jerked back for a second before the purple began to dissipate. He looked down at Misty, and she smiled up at him. "Do you remember me, too?"

He let out a squeal normally too high-pitched for a Pokemon of its size and squeezed Misty into another hug with Ash, pushing the two into close proximity.

"Ash-" Misty managed, her face heating up, "get him – to put – us down."

He chuckled and patted the Pokemon with his arm pinned but hand free to move at the wrist. "Come on big guy, we've got some catching up to do."

Tyranitar scrambled for a moment to put the two trainers back on their feet. He smiled at them before looking over to Nick, still holding the Nidoran.

She looked up to the larger Pokemon and walked over with Nidoran. She buried her face into Nick's shoulder at the realization that she was approaching him.

"Hi Tyranitar," Nick said as cheerfully as she could manage while holding the culprit Pokemon, "my name is Nick, and this Nidoran here is very sorry about what happened. See, she's a baby Pokemon like you were when you traveled with Ash and Misty," she explained, gesturing to them. "She didn't realize she could hurt someone if they almost stepped on her, and she got scared too, so I think you both need to apologize."

Nidoran slowly lifted her head and turned to face the Tyranitar, practically shaking. Tyranitar gave a small head tilt and lowered its face down to be level with Nick. "Ty… Tyran…." he muttered, embarrassment evident for the overreaction.

The Nidoran lowered its gaze but still choked out, "Ran… Nido… Nidoran."

Tyranitar then lowered its head to the smaller Pokemon and seemed to nuzzle its nose into the Nidoran's head. The three trainers sighed in relief.

"Well… now that that's over with," Nick started, looking down at the Nidoran, "why don't we pick now for lunch?"

Nidoran looked up at Nick and smiled at last.

Tyranitar stomped its feet and gave a loud roar, making the trainers cover their ears.

"Some things never change," Misty said with a sigh.

Nick decided to prepare some basic sandwiches for the group while the other collected berries for desserts and spreads. Tyranitar helped Pikachu reach berries while Nidoran helped Nick with the sandwiches. The other Pokemon had been released to help with the preparation while others that weren't needed played together.

On the walk back with armfuls of berries, Ash and Misty were laughing and smiling.

"Do you remember how we fought over who Larvitar actually rightfully belonged to?" Misty asked through tears. "He was never either of ours; we never caught him!"

Ash was laughing too. "I know, I know! I don't think either of us will live that one down."

"Remember how he mostly went to you, but went to me when you were battling or when he couldn't get to you?" she asked.

"Of course I do! He was mostly a daddy's boy but loved his mom too, right?" he recalled casually.

Misty felt her face heat up. "We weren't _parents_ , Ash! We're like his trainers!"

"But you just said that neither of us ever actually caught him!" he pointed out.

Misty tilted her head for a moment. "Come to think of it… why don't you?"

Ash looked to her. "You mean you want me to catch him?"

Misty shrugged but then regretted it, struggling to hold the berries. "I mean, I'm a Water Type Specialist, and you have one open slot in your party, right? He clearly missed us, especially you…. I don't see why not."

"But what about his mom?" Ash said, frowning. "Would he want to be caught now?"

Misty grimaced. Sometimes she felt like having to explain certain things to Ash was like teaching a child why the sky is blue. She hesitated, going with the gentler approach. "He's a Tyranitar now. He doesn't really need his mom anymore."

"You mean because she's probably gone, right?"

Misty nearly dropped the berries and came to a complete halt. That was _not_ what she expected him to answer with.

"Mist, I'm not a kid anymore," he explained. "I've traveled through 7 regions. I've encountered legendary Pokemon. I can sense Aura. I _know_ that bad things happen to good people and Pokemon."

Misty looked away. Then she scoffed. "Is it stupid to wish you _didn't_ know about those things yet?"

Not having a free hand, Ash nudged her with his shoulder as they continued walking down the path. "Come on, Mist, I know you don't enjoy explaining every little thing to me. Besides, I know about most of the stuff you haven't explained to me yet."

Misty paled. The realization that he could sense Aura occurred to her. Did he know about how she felt about him? How _much_ did he know? Why didn't he say anything yet? Did he not feel the same way? Was he dodging the conversation? Why would he bring it up then?

"Mist?" Ash asked, breaking her out of her panic. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah," she said quickly, "like… like what?"

Ash shrugged. "Well I know about how you feel when you're in the heat of battle and the way you get excited for the thrill. And I can tell when you're asleep because that's the only time your emotions kind of fall in check."

If she didn't have the armfuls of berries, hands would be on hips. " _Excuse_ me? What is _that_ supposed to mean?" she nudged him back.

"Oh, just that you're usually in a frenzy when you're awake… and trying to antagonize me like you are right now." Ash smirked at her.

Misty raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you know big words like 'antagonize'?" she teased.

"Very funny," Ash said. "I'm still just a stupid kid, right?"

"I never said you were stupid," Misty pointed out, "but a kid… yeah, that's about right."

"Man, you sound like Iris," Ash groaned. "And the funny thing is that she's probably younger than me anyway."

Misty tensed. Another name she didn't recognize.

Ash seemed to immediately understand this. "She was one of the people I traveled with in Unova. She's actually a Specialist like you, but she wanted to be a Dragon Master! She actually reminded me of you a lot when we were traveling together," he added.

Misty allowed a small smile. "Maybe I'll meet her someday," she said quietly.

"Yeah!" he said, happily. Then it was his turn to grow quiet. "I should really keep calling people."

Misty pursed her lips.

Ash picked up on her uneasiness without looking at her expression. "You wanna tell me what to do?"

Misty opened her mouth to retort at the snippy answer, but she closed it when she remembered that he could sense how she was feeling… and that he was right; she did have an opinion on it. "Don't force yourself into it, Ash. You have a lot going on right now. And it's not like any of them called you either," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but there's a difference," he said. "All this time, they all helped with through every stupid, crazy adventure I had without question. I feel like I owe them an explanation as to why it happened to me. Why I needed them…."

If Misty could give his shoulder a squeeze, she would have, but her arms were still full of the stupid berries. She settled for a sympathetic glance. "Don't forget that they had the choice to not help you, Ash. They chose to."

Ash looked down and sighed. Quietly he asked, "Did they though…?"

Misty didn't have an answer.

* * *

The trainers and Pokemon all chattered amongst themselves as they ate their sandwiches together on a blanket in the grass. The air with cool with a light breeze making its way through the trees around them. Sun peered in through the branches.

Nick never wanted to the moment to end.

She stood up, breathing in deeply. Ash and Misty eyed her before she spoke. "Nidoran," she started. The smallest Pokemon present looked up from its spot settled beside her. "Would you like to have a battle? I want you to join us on my journey."

Nidoran squealed in excitement, and Riku and Charmander nodded to the potential new member. Ash and Misty exchanged excited glances.

"Charmander, will you help me?" she asked.

He looked up at her and put a small fist to his chest. "Char char!"

Riku moved to Charmander and put a small paw on his arm with a smile.

The Pokemon and trainers cleaned up the mess of plates and bowls to clear the area for a fight. Nick and Charmander stood at one end of the clearing with Nidoran at the other, looking apprehensive but determined.

Ash, Misty, and the rest of the Pokemon sat on one side of the field all cheering excitedly.

"We've got a really crowd here," Nick said to Charmander. "Show 'em what you've got!" she said, pumping a fist forward.

Charmander let out a tiny roar and shot an Ember into the air.

Nidoran looked on from the other end, gritting its teeth.

"Alright," Misty said, "battle begin!"

Nidoran didn't hesitate. It surged forward then turned, butt-end to Charmander. Its backend glowed with a purple hue.

"Charmander, dodge it!" Nick called out, eyes wide.

The Fire type Pokemon managed to roll out of the way and land on its feet, making Nidoran tumble off to the side.

"What was that?" Ash asked.

Misty pulled out her Pokedex. "It says that Nidoran can learn Poison Tail if a parent was a Serviper."

"Good to know!" Nick called back. "Charmander, use Body Slam!"

"Char!" he yelled as she charged into the Nidoran, still recovering from the tumble. Both landed on the ground, Charmander letting out a groan, his face showing a purple hue.

"You've _gotta_ be kidding," she grunted.

"Poison Point," Ash said quickly. "Oh shit."

Misty flicked his nose. "Language. What would your mom say?"

"She's not here…. And who are you to tell _me_ about language?"

Focusing again on the battle, Nick called for Charmander to get up, but the Nidoran was faster. She came flying at Charmander with a leg charged with power, colliding with him in the air.

Nick gasped as the move connected, making Charmander slide backwards. He shook it off but opened his eyes to see the Pokemon coming at him once again, leg still raised.

"It's Double Kick!" Nick called out, "Dodge the second one!"

He dove underneath, catching the Nidoran by the opposite leg and flinging her to the ground.

Nick jumped up with a squeal. "Charmander, that was great! Now, Ember!"

"Chaaaaaaar… mander!"

The little bursts of flames flew out from his mouth and connected with the Nidoran. Charmander then fell to one knee from exhaustion.

"I've gotta finish this now or else Charmander can't keep up with the poison," Nick whispered to herself. She reached behind herself on her belt and enlarged a Pokeball. "Pokeball, go!"

It soared through the air and tapped the Nidoran with a bounce, taking her inside with a red beam of light. The ball fell to the ground and wiggled. Once… twice…

Nick held her breath.

Three.

She ran over to the ball, picking it up and hugging it to her chest briefly before minimizing it and clicking it back to her belt. She ran to Charmander's side and lifted him into her arms, running over to Ash and Misty who were already breaking out potions and antidote.

"You did great!" Ash complimented the Pokemon.

Charizard himself had meandered over, eyeing his young with apprehension. When he saw that he was being cared for well enough, he gave him a thumbs-up.

Charmander smiled then winced at the sting of the antidote. He sighed contently when it took effect and stood up.

"Looks like you've got yourself some competition," Misty told him. "That Nidoran is a force to be reckoned with. That's girl power if I've ever seen it."

Charmander grimaced slightly as Nick released the Pokemon in question. She knelt down and picked her up, cuddling Nidoran into her chest. "You did great, and I'm so glad to have you!"

"I think we all needed a nice battle to round out the day," Ash added. "That was fun!"

"Not so fast," Misty objected. Ash and Nick looked to her before she crossed her arms across her chest and sighed. Then she pointed directly to Tyranitar shuffling his feet off to the side.

Ash smiled. "Right! Hey Tyranitar!" he called.

The Armor Pokemon looked up, hopeful.

"Would you like to have a battle?"

Tyranitar jumped to his feet and looked to Ash. He let out a roar, then pointed to Pikachu.

"You want to fight Pikachu?" he asked.

Tyranitar nodded, determination on his face.

"I would have thought he wanted to fight Charizard," Ash said.

"Well it makes sense," Misty explained. "Tyranitar traveled with us after Charizard, and he knew Pikachu the whole time he was with us. He probably wants to prove he's on an equal playing field now."

"Ty!" he confirmed with a nod of his head.

"Then let's do this, Pikachu!"

"Pi-ka!" he yelled back, jumped down from Ash's shoulder.

Ash and Pikachu ran to one side while Tyranitar stood looming at the other. The two Pokemon eyed each other with determination.

Misty clutched a hand to her chest as she looked to Ash, a fire in him once again that she hadn't seen since they started this journey. But she knew she would always recognize that look he gave. New abilities or not, new people or not, new Pokemon or not, Ash was still Ash.

She felt heat rush to her cheeks for the second time that day, but this time she smiled then sighed. "Some things really never change."

* * *

"Make way! Top Coordinators coming through!"

"Is that Dawn?! She just won the Grand Festival!"

"That's May with her! The Princess of Hoenn!"

"Drew is with them! I think that's Paul from the Pokemon League too!"

"Oh my god, I could faint!"

Dawn cringed at the words of the crowd surrounding the café that the four trainers had reserved for lunch. It had been a little over a week since she had won, and none of the hype had died down nearly as much as Dawn had hoped it would.

Her first week as Sinnoh's Top Coordinator was overwhelming. Interviews, autographing, photoshoots, award ceremonies…. She could hardly count all of the events that had been crammed into her schedule.

Fortunately, May had booked today for just the four of them. That included the entire restaurant.

"Don't you think this is a little much?" Drew said, pointing a thumb at the crowd out the window beside them. "They're gawking at us through the window. We might've flown under the radar better if we _didn't_ book the whole place."

"That's May for you. Letting it go to her big head," Paul commented.

Her face went from healthy to heated in the blink of an eye. "Don't you even," she said, crossing her arms. "Dawn hasn't caught a break all week, so today is just for us. You know this would be better than everyone staying in here with us. People would be coming up to us right now. Besides, now we all finally get to hang out just us again."

May thought back on the week. It had only been a few days since she had gotten that call from Ash. All of them had been so shocked to hear from him at just the right time. They had all been together celebrating Dawn's victory. But the week that followed hadn't allowed for any of that beyond that night.

The funny thing was that they had all been staying at the Pokemon Center together with the two joined rooms. Despite that, the other three hadn't seen much of Dawn at all.

Which also meant that Paul hadn't had the chance to talk to Dawn.

Paul snuck a glance in Dawn's direction. She had her chin in the palm of one hand, elbow proper up on the table, stirring her soda with the straw.

* * *

As the cheers died down, and the lights came on in the auditorium, people began leaving their seats.

Paul still hadn't moved as he stared down at the stage.

"Mew, I'm so glad she won!" May exclaimed, clasping her hands together as she stood. Glaceon hopped down from the seat and looked up to her trainer with a smile. May looked to Paul and cocked her head. "Paul?"

The older of the two stood and closed his eyes. "I never realized just how strong she is."

May raised an eyebrow. "You've traveled with her, you've watched her Contests, and you just saw her win the Sinnoh Grand Festival! Something you couldn't even do in the Pokemon League…." she muttered.

His head snapped to her at those words and clenched his teeth.

If May felt anything but smug, she didn't show it. She glared back, arms folded. "Your problem is that you underestimate coordinators," she said matter-of-factly. "Dawn isn't just a pretty girl with some choreography thrown in… which she is… but she's a tough battler to boot. Her Pokemon are strong. And I think you owe her an apology."

Paul stiffened. As much as he didn't want to admit it… May was right. He had underestimated her. She had _won_ … something he couldn't even do.

And if that wasn't enough, the Princess of Hoenn was standing before him, eyes narrowed.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "You're right."

May's mouth fell open. "Did I just hear an apology from you?"

"Savor it. You won't get another one."

May shook her head with a chuckle. "If that's the way you want it, Mister Tall-Dark-and-Handsome."

He grunted despite his face feeling warmer than normal. "Whatever. I still want to battle her, especially now. If she wins…." He frowned.

"Then you _really_ owe her one."

* * *

"Battle me."

Dawn glanced up lazily from her soda. "I'm sorry?"

"Battle me," the older of the two repeated.

Drew made eye contact with May who merely shrugged. Wasn't her secret to tell in her mind.

However Dawn was interpreting this gesture, she wasn't really amused. "Why?" she asked dryly. "Don't you think I've had enough of a rough week?"

"This isn't for me," he corrected. "This is for you."

At this, Dawn picked up her head and sat up a little straighter. She quirked an eyebrow.

Paul gritted his teeth. "Look…. You're a strong trainer. And all of this…." he said, waving a hand toward the window full of onlookers taking pictures. "This just isn't you. Battle me and show me how you got here."

Dawn finally managed a smirk. "Now you're speaking my language." She stood. "Let's do this now!" she said, clasped a fist in the opposite hand.

"I'd like to at least order some food first," Drew added.

Dawn looked to Paul, and scratched the back of her head.

He chuckled, covering his mouth with his hand. "Eager, are we?"

She sat back down. "I am," she said, "maybe battling could be a good way to figure out what I want. I know that I love battling, and maybe I can learn something from that."

Paul nodded with a smile.

* * *

Paul and Dawn stood at opposite ends of the field from each other, Drew on the side, calling the battle. Nurse Joy had told trainers that the back battlefield was off-limits for the next hour, which gave them plenty of time to battle and relax alone.

"Alright, you two," Drew called, "each of you will be allowed one Pokemon, no substitutions. Any questions?"

"Fine by me," Paul said, raising a pokeball.

"Same here," Dawn said, lifting her own pokeball covered in a ball capsule with a seal. The seal happened to be a bubble on the front.

"Wait," Paul said.

Dawn put her free hand on her hip. "Don't I get a say in what Pokemon I choose?"

"Not in this battle. I want no holding back. A _real_ battle."

Dawn opened her mouth to retort before realizing what he wanted. He had seen first-hand what he was missing out on at the Grand Festival. A wry smirk crossed her lips. "Oh! You don't mean for me to use a Mega when you don't have one, do you?"

Paul grimaced. "Damn right I do."

Dawn chuckled. "Always stubborn," she said, replacing her Piplup's pokeball. She retrieved another ball, this time with a heart seal on the front. She chanced a wink at Paul before tossing it out in front of her. "Lopunny! Spotlight!"

A spray of hearts and sparkles erupted on the field before then as Lopunny gracefully landed in a curtsy at the near-center. When she looked up at Paul, her eyes were fierce.

Steeling himself, he enlarged a pokeball. "Aggron, standby!"

The Iron Armor Pokemon emerged with a thunderous slam onto the field. It roared before narrowing its eyes on Lopunny.

"No holding back!" Paul shouted to Dawn, whipping his arm across his body. "I want full power."

Dawn's eyes were wide at the sudden fierceness in his tone, but she welcomed the challenge. "If that's the way you want it…. Alright Lopunny, my first Pokemon, show them how we shine!"

Dawn outstretched her wrist as the Key Stone dangling from her bracelet began to glow brighter and brighter. Lopunny's Mega Stone hanging from her necklace began to emit a brilliant light as it seemed to stretch back and reach out to Dawn's light coming from the bracelet.

The two lights collided and Lopunny was engulfed in light so bright, Paul had to shield his eyes as Dawn raised her wrist higher, he hair whipping around her face, framing her determined smile.

In a flash of light, Mega Lopunny stood in the place Lopunny once was and let out a fierce cry. It bounced on its toes and threw a few punches, signaling that it was ready for more.

"How's that for no holding back?" Dawn asked across the field.

The redness in Paul's face suddenly made him feel exposed. He scoffed and pushed back his hair. "We'll see how strong this makes both of us."

* * *

Bottom line: I'll be updating when I get the drive to. I have a lot of one-shots planned, which I've only ever done a few times before, but I want to work on those while also continuing this story and Binge Drinking… _and_ Defying the Gods whenever I get to it.

Stay subscribed because I'm not done with this story yet!


	11. A Hot Water Battle

Nick overlooked the hill in awe, the sweeping city on the bay taking her breath away.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Misty came up next to her, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Well I didn't exactly get to appreciate Viridian, either," Nick commented, eyeing Ash.

Ash chuckled. "Yeah, well…. Can you blame me for being excited?"

Cerulean City seemed to have been built with the sole purpose of reflecting the water off of Cerulean Bay. The towering buildings were seemingly entirely composed of glass with arrays of blues. Fountains were found in nearly every intersection, statues of Water Type Pokemon adorning them. The coast along the bay seemed to be purposefully kept underdeveloped with a pier overlooking the water and a beach alongside it. People walked along it with the families and Pokemon alike.

Now it was Nick's turn to run down the hill, the other two trainers in tow. She had already pinned where Cerulean Gym was on her map and made a beeline for it. Square-mileage of the city was actually rather minimal, as it was with nearly all Kanto cities, so it took only a few minutes for the three to set foot at the edge of the property.

In seemingly its own district, Cerulean City Gym was _immense_. The edge of the property expanded out and around the Gym with a huge landscape of trees and pools. The pools had people and Pokemon playing in them around the outskirts of the Gym, apparently open to the public. The Gym itself reflected the architecture of the city with expansive windows on opposite angles dipping down from the roof. There was a marble bridge with pillars over the water just outside the Gym with double doors below the Pokemon League symbol awaiting trainers.

"I see someone's been working on the Gym and not just their skills," Ash pointed out.

Misty smirked. "Well since _I_ became the Gym Leader, the Gym has won its fair share of battles, getting more grants from the League to remodel. Daisy and I designed it together. We proposed to the League that we make public pools in addition to a Water Type rescue and rehabilitation center. We have families and trainers adopting out Pokemon almost every day."

Nick's eyes shone wide. "Misty, that's amazing!"

She rubbed her knuckles against her shirt and blew on them. "If I do say so, myself."

Nick snorted. "Why don't you show me around, then?"

The two girls started forward, but Ash hesitated. He suddenly felt a pulsing sensation coarse through him, leading him in the direction of the Gym. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes, glancing around to see if anyone had noticed. He jogged to catch up.

At the doors of the Gym, Misty pushed them open wide to reveal the lobby. There was a fountain in the center with a statue of a Dewgong spewing water out the mouth. There was a distinct smell of chlorine coming from seemingly everywhere and people were moving in and out of changing rooms on the right and left.

At the back of the bustling lobby were double doors with the Gym's logo above them. Misty walked straight up and pulled out keys from her pullstring with a matching Pokemon League logo dangling from a keychain. She turned the key and pushed through the doors.

The interior of the battlefield itself looked nearly-untouched. The pink bleachers still lined the walls with the front and back having tall platforms for the battling trainers. Above the bleachers were tanks of Water Pokemon.

Misty led the group to a door going below the bleachers and leading up the hallways with tanks. Misty's Pokemon swam forward and smiled at them, waving through the glass. Politoed, Caserin, and Goldeen all came forward to greet Ash and Pikachu as well.

Despite being nearly surrounded by water, Riku seemed more comfortable than he should be around the other Pokemon. He went right up to the tanks alongside Pikachu.

Ash paused again as Misty opened a door at the end of the hallway. He felt the pulsing sensation again and stepped forward, scanning the room.

"Daisy! I'm here!" Misty called out.

They walked into an expansive floor plan with a high sun-rooved ceiling.

"What are you doing back so soon?!" Daisy called from the kitchen, running out in an apron and covered in flour. She rushed at Misty and swept her into a hug.

"A bit more affectionate with the sisters now, isn't she?" Nick commented. Pikachu and Riku snickered, but Nick turned to look at Ash, he seemed to stare at a closed door off to the side.

Before she could ask if he was okay, there was a puff of black smoke that emerged from the kitchen followed by a fire extinguisher spraying.

"Sorry, sorry!" said a voice emerging from the other room. A wide-eyed, soot and flour-stained Clemont appeared, but then stopped in his tracks.

Ash gaped at him.

"Ash?!" Clemont pulled off his glasses and wiped them on what little of his apron was still white. He replaced them and blinked. "It _is_ you!" Ash couldn't react before Clemont was on him, hugging him. He pulled back to look at Ash, and he smiled. "It's so good to see you! How have you been? I haven't seen you since then!"

Ash finally recoiled and scratched the back of his head. "I… uh… yeah. I'm sorry about that, Clemont. I meant to call... How's the Gym? And Bonnie?"

Clemont beamed. "Don't worry about it! Bonnie is great! She started her journey a few months ago but decided to come home for a break. In fact, she's a certified Gym Leader while I'm doing research! I mean, Clembot is teaching her a lot, but she's learning pretty quickly!"

"That's'… that's great! I'm so happy for you guys," Ash conceded.

Nick raised her eyebrows at Ash. She realized from how much Bonnie has grown as a trainer… it had to have been a long time since Ash actually traveled, then.

Clemont turned to Nick and held out a hand. "Hi there, I'm Clemont!"

Nick blinked before clasping his hand. "Hey, I'm Nick! I'm challenging the Kanto League and traveling with Ash and Misty," she said with a smile.

"Ah, so you must be Misty," Clemont said, walking over. "I've heard quite a bit about you from your sisters."

While Misty sheepishly introduced herself to Clemont, and he chatted with her about Gym Leader responsibilities, Nick eyed Ash as he disappeared through the previously-closed door.

He stepped through the door, pushing it open and walked straight to one of the white dressers. The room was decorated in bright pinks and reds and flowers adorning the walls. Sitting atop the dresser was a black briefcase, entirely out of place in the vibrant room.

Ash motioned to open the briefcase before Nick purposefully coughed.

Ash started and spun around to face Nick, very pale.

Nick folded her arms. "What are you doing?"

"I…." Ash turned back to look at the briefcase then turned back to Nick. "I don't… remember…."

Before Nick could open her mouth to question him, a new voice approached them.

"I thought I recognized your voice," said Tracy as he emerged from the bathroom attached. "Ash! How are you?"

Ash's eyes widened as he looked to Tracy and smiled. He ran over and clasped his hand in his own. "Good to see you, Tracy! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he said. Nick watched as Ash visibly tensed, but Tracy continued. "I thought you were supposed to be helping out a new trainer or something."

"Oh!" he said, scratching the bad of his neck, "I am! This is Nick!" he said quickly, gesturing to her. "She's challenging the Kanto League!"

Nick feigned a smile and walked over, holding out a hand. "Nice to meet you! I've heard a lot about you!"

Tracy's cheeks flushed briefly and he let out a nervous chuckle. "Only good things, I'm sure!"

While Nick listened to Tracy ramble for a moment, she chanced another glance at Ash whose eyes were still wide, his hands twitching.

Misty, Clemont, and Daisy walked in the room, Misty unsurprised to see Tracy among them as they started to talk.

"So what are _you_ doing in Kanto?" Misty asked him, giving him a playful nudge. "Is helping out my sister with the Gym really the only reason?"

"I was actually just about to tell these two," he said, looking to Ash and Nick. The two snapped their heads to attention, everyone else oblivious to the silent tension between them. "You know I was working with Professor Sycamore on researching Mega Evolution…." he trailed off, stepping toward the briefcase. He picked it up and placed it on the bed in the middle of the room, facing it out for all to see. "And he asked that I take something back to Kanto with me."

Tracy clicked open the briefcase.

Nick had to shield her eyes much like the way she had at the Tree of Beginning.

There were rows of large, shining jewels, all with the identical double helix symbol. One row of stones were larger than the others, all with the same colors. The rest of the jewels below had individual colors glowing in a rainbow.

Nick turned to Ash who was staring in awe. That's when it clicked.

The Key Stones and Mega Stones were directly connected to Aura.

Which is what must have attracted Ash so strongly.

His eyes began to glow a bright blue and his hands twitched with glowing energy.

Nick inhaled sharply and grabbed Ash's wrist, squeezing it. He started with a jolt and snapped his head down to meet her eyes. She shook her head at him and he inhaled, the energy seemingly simmering down.

Nick wasn't the only one to notice though. Misty had seen the subtle exchange and visibly tensed.

"He wanted me to distribute these to trainers I could trust. In particular, he mentioned Ash," he said, "but I'm not the one doing much traveling, so I thought that _you_ could distribute these to trainers you trust."

Ash swallowed hard. "Me?"

Tracy chuckled. "You seem to me like the perfect candidate! You even have two companions here traveling with you! Are you taking on the League again?"

Ash sputtered for a moment. "I mean, I thought about it… but we already rolled through some of the cities and all."

Misty stepped in. "I wouldn't say he'd need to," she pointed out. "He already has all eight badges, he doesn't really need a second set. It's just standard to re-challenge the entire League when going for the tournament. I would know, considering I'm a Gym Leader," she said with a wink. "I think he's more than qualified considering he's also certified to be a Battle Frontier Brain if he wanted to."

Clemont turned to Ash. "You never told me that! That's amazing, Ash!"

Said teen rubbed the back of his neck and flushed. "It's not something I thought I needed to brag about. Thanks, Mist," he said quietly.

She smirked. "Ash is talented but he's skilled to boot."

Daisy eyed Tracy for a moment out the corner of Nick's eye.

"So as I was saying, we could give you guys all Key and Mega Stones to test out." He plucked a Key Stone out of the briefcase and held it out to Ash.

He hesitated and eyed Nick and Misty.

Nick was the one to finally speak up. "Actually, Tracy… Ash has one. A real one, not the Greninja one from Kalos."

Ash reached into his pocket and pulled out his oversized Key Stone he collected at the Tree of Beginning.

"Holy smokes!" Clemont said. "That's huge! Where did you get this?!"

Misty spoke this time. "We've kind of been looking for something. You see, when Nick first got here, things started to… click."

"What do you mean?" Tracy asked, replacing the Key Stone in the case.

"You have memories of the past few years now, don't you?" Nick asked. "It seems like when I interact with this world, memories come back to people and time seems to change."

Daisy and Tracy exchanged glances.

"She's right," Daisy said with a sigh. "I hadn't spoken to Tracy in a few years before the other day. But neither of us had understood why. But then, Tracy came here to see me and bring the stones right when we gave Misty her Pokemon to go on the journey with you, Nick."

"And Bonnie hadn't been a trainer for very long when I asked her to take over the Gym," Clemont said. "But it felt like she had been for a few years."

Nick began to connect the dots in her head but thought better than to voice it to the group at large. "It's not a secret that I'm just a player in your world," she said. "But it only seems to be that way when I come into contact with people that it changes. Gary, Ash, Misty and Professor Oak all experienced this when I got my first Pokemon. Tracy, Daisy and Clemont did once they spoke with Misty about her Pokemon."

"So we went to the Tree of Beginning in Northern Kanto to see if we could find some answers," Misty added. "That's where we found the Key Stone."

"It seems like we have a lot more to learn from all of this than just Mega Evolution," Tracy said, putting a hand to his chin. "For now, we'll give you guys the Mega Stones to distribute and record the progress of the people you give them to once they interact with Nick."

To that, the three trainers on their journey nodded back.

"But having a Key Stone doesn't give you a Mega Stone," Tracy pointed out. He looked to Ash. "Who do you have with you?"

"Pikachu, Charizard, Sceptile, Infernape, Samurott, and Tyranitar."

Clemont pushed his glass further up on his face. "Ash, you have a few Pokemon that can Mega Evolve!"

He nodded. "Most of those Megas, I've seen, actually."

"But there's only one that the bond is more than strong enough to give a Mega Stone to," Tracy said, knowingly. He reached down and plucked out a stone, holding out a pale orange, red and yellow glowing stone.

Ash gaped at the stone for a moment before picking it up and fisting the stone. "We won't let you down, Tracy!"

He smiled before turning back to the briefcase. "In that case," Tracy said, taking out two stones, "I think these belong to you, Misty." He outstretched his palm with a Key Stone and an orange, red and blue Mega Stone.

Misty beamed at him before gingerly taking them from Tracy and clutching them to her chest. "We've worked so hard for this, Gyarados!" she said, tears brimming in her eyes.

Daisy and Tracy smiled at her, remembering how they had won their first battle together years ago.

Tracy looked to Nick. "I know you're just starting out, but you deserve to have one too." He reached down and handed her a Key Stone. "What Pokemon do you have on you?"

Nick opened her mouth to speak but then realized something. "My partner is a Vulpix," she said, gesturing down to Riku sitting with Pikachu, "but I also have Charmander and Nidoran."

Tracy smirked before turning and picking out a Key Stone and a Mega Stone in a spot slightly off of the row from the rest of the stones. He held them out to Nick.

The Mega Stone was a brilliantly glowing blue and black stone. The colors seemed a little duller than the rest of the Mega Stones in the case, but she picked them up and studied them.

"That," Tracy said carefully, "is an experiment. Considering your situation, and the fact that you don't yet have a Pokemon that can Mega Evolve… but the _coincidence_ of the potential of one… this is definitely the Mega Stone for you."

"That's not a coincidence, Tracy," Ash spoke up with a smile. "That Charmander belongs to my Charizard."

Tracy raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? Never thought I'd see the day that Ash learned about biology."

Clemont added, "He does find science fairly interesting!"

Misty pinched the bridge of her nose. "Great. Now we have not one but two complete idiots."

Clemont seemed to want to take offense to the comment but didn't understand why. He figured asking questions would further prove her point and chose to stay quiet.

Daisy snickered and rolled her eyes. "Boys."

"Tracy," Clemont started, "if it's alright with you, I'd like to go with Nick on her journey."

Nick's eyes widened as Clemont turned to her. They were about eye-level with Clemont slightly taller. He looked her dead in the eyes.

"I feel that following you is something that I need to do. I can directly observe the effects of the Mega Stones while also trying to figure out what's going on around you. And it doesn't exactly hurt that I can travel with Ash again." he added, briefly smiling to Ash. Nick saw him smile back. "So if you would have me, I'd like to follow you, too."

Nick smiled, reaching out her hand. "Welcome to the team, Clemont. You have our backs, and we'll have yours."

He smiled with determination. "I won't let you down."

"Here," Tracy said, tapping Clemont on the shoulder and dropping two more stones into his hand. "You'll need these then," he said with a wink.

Clemont looked from Tracy and down to the stones. There was another Key Stone and a gray, red, yellow and orange Mega Stone. Clemont looked back up to Tracy.

"Hey, you weren't a Gym Leader _and_ a researcher for nothing," Tracy added.

"Thank you so much," he said, staring down at the stones.

"As for myself…" He leaned down and took a Key Stone for himself before selecting a red and gray glowing stone. He looked to Ash and held it up. "Do you approve then?"

Ash smiled and pumped out a fist. "Of course, Tracy!"

Daisy clasped her hands together. "This is so exciting! I think we should all have dinner together tonight! Then if you'd like, Nick and I can have our battle tomorrow!" She turned to her and winked. "What do you say?"

Nick smirked. "If you're up to it, then so am I!"

* * *

As dinner concluded and everyone was helping clear and clean the table, Ash leaned over Misty's shoulder. "Mind if I use your phone? I still have a few calls to make."

"Yeah, there's one in my room too," she said.

Nick overheard them and walked over. She added in a hushed voice. "Before you do though, I think we should discuss what happened today. Were you able to sense the stones?"

Ash grimaced. "I think so. I think that it's my Aura abilities."

"That doesn't surprise me considering the Tree of Beginning," Misty said. "Should we tell the others what's going on?"

"No," Ash said quickly. The two girls raised eyebrows at him. "The less that know about me, the better. I don't want to put anyone in danger."

"Ash, I think _you're_ the one in danger," Nick said hesitantly. "Team Rocket already attacked us, and we're probably being followed. And they didn't exactly seem intent on catching Pikachu."

Misty chewed her bottom lip. "I'm worried that Nick is right. I think it would be helpful to tell them. And they've been researching Mega Evolution. They might be able to help us."

Ash put down the plate he was holding and turned away. "I need to go make some phone calls."

Misty and Nick exchanged glances.

* * *

"The battle for the Cascade Badge will now begin!" Tracy called out.

"Seaking, let's go!" Daisy called out.

"Nidoran, let's do this!" Nick called.

Both Pokemon appeared in the air over the Cerulean City Gym's main pool and battlefield. Nidoran landed on one of the many floating platforms with Seaking in the water.

"Nidoran, just in the water!" Nick called.

"What is she doing?!" Misty shouted and she, Ash and Clemont stood up in the stands.

"Seaking, follow it down!" Daisy called.

"I'm hoping she has a plan." Clemont commented. "Seaking has the obvious advantage in the water."

Ash watched Nick carefully.

"Use Double Team!" Nick then called. The three looked on as Nidoran multiplied underwater.

"Seaking! Use Fury Attack!" Daisy shouted. The Water Type swam through the water, quickly taking out the Nidoran one at a time.

Ash watched as Nick's eyes scanned the field. She knew which one was the real Nidoran. He watched as she waited.

"Now use Poison Tail while it's distracted!" Nick commanded.

From behind the Seaking, the real Nidoran lunged forward and collided perfectly centered on the Seaking's top fin.

"Holy shit!" Misty yelled, putting a hand to her forehead. "That was genius! How did she know which one was hers?"

Ash scoffed, folding his arms. "She knows her Pokemon well. That, and years of experience."

Clemont stared at Ash. "But isn't she just starting her journey?"

"Well, it's not exactly her first go-around," Ash said slowly. "You're aware that she's not from… _here_?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Clemont asked. "This isn't her first game?"

Misty and Ash exchanged glances. Misty spoke up. "No… but she also watched the show."

"Makes sense then," Clemont commented. "She's seen some intense real-time battles, then."

Misty and Ash's eyes both widened, realizing that none of them had told Clemont about the details of Nick's real life. How he knew that was beyond them, and they knew Nick hadn't had the chance to speak with Clemont with the three of them having agreed to not disclose all of the details yet.

Just then, there was a spray of water over the edge of the pool, and Seaking floated to the top, eyes closed and belly up.

"Seaking is unable to battle," Tracy called, "so the battle goes to Nidoran!"

"Seaking, return," Daisy said, bringing back the Goldfish Pokemon. "That was really intelligent battling, Nick. But you'll have a lot more to deal with next. Luverin, let's go!"

The Luvdisc with a little crown on its head appeared in the water and smirked at Nidoran.

"Luvdisc, use Heart Stamp!" Daisy called.

"Dodge it, Nidoran! Hop onto the floats!" Nick called.

Nidoran wasn't quicker than Luverin in the water. The Luvdisc caught up to Nidoran with ease and delivered a dead-on attack. Nidoran shook her head, but was stunned.

"Nidoran, get out of the water!" Nick called. But the Pokemon kept shaking her head, unable to move.

"Water Pulse!" Daisy shouted.

Luverin sucked in water before blowing it out and forward, breaking the surface causing a geyser to erupt beneath Nidoran, sending her into the air. She was pushed back so hard that she soared over to Nick, her catching the defeated Pokemon in her arms.

"Nidoran is unable to battle!" Tracy called.

"Nidoran, return," Nick said. "You did great," she whispered to the Pokeball, replacing it on her belt. She picked out her next Pokemon. "Riku, let's do this!"

"That's not good," Clemont commented.

"Her other two Pokemon are pure Fire Type," Misty said. "She doesn't have a choice."

"Well if her ability in Pewter proved anything, she should be just fine." Ash said, sitting back.

"Riku, use Hypnosis!"

"Dodge it, Luverin! Use Attract!"

"Status move for status move," Clemont observed. "Riku's in trouble now."

The Attract had landed, and Riku seemed rather giddy.

"Love or not, Riku can still move," Nick said. "Use Ember!"

"That's not gonna do much," Clemont added.

"But it's smart," Misty said. "Riku's other moves would require him getting too close to the water. Ember is a ranged attack and keeps him far enough away."

The said Pokemon sprayed Fire in all directions, not wanting to necessarily target Luverin.

"Nick, are you crazy?! I'm gonna have to get the Gym repaired again!" Misty yelled at her.

Ash grabbed her arm. "Don't distract her. Let her do what she needs to."

"I take it back, that wasn't smart," she grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Look!" Clemont said, pushing up his glasses. Sure enough, some of the attacks from Ember did land on Luverin. The Pokemon recoiled, and it was clear that it left a mark. "It's burned! Is that dumb luck or what?"

"Riku and Nick are really strong, despite her just starting out," Ash said. "I don't think that's a coincidence. They train nearly every day."

Luverin was panting at this point, settling just at water level. Daisy called, "Come on, Luverin! Water Pulse again!"

"Riku, get out of there!" Nick called.

But Riku was still trapped in the effect of Attract, and Luverin had aim. The water washed over Riku, knocking him straight into the water. Dazed but managing, he came up out of the water and slumped onto the floating platform.

"Vulpix is unable to battle! Luverin wins the matchup!" Tracy called.

"You did great, Riku," Nick said, raising the pokeball. The Pokemon returned to her and she clipped it to her belt.

"Luverin!" Daisy yelled.

All eyes turned to the remaining Pokemon. But it came up in the water on its side, clearly down for the count.

"Luvdisc is unable to battle!" Tracy called.

"Wow!" Clemont exclaimed. "The burn must have taken her out, and after all of that battling…."

"I think Nick was planning for that," Misty said, her breath taken away. She turned to Ash. "You've been training with her," she said expectantly.

Ash held up his hands in surrender. "Look, I just battle with her. If she asks for advice, I give it, but she never mentioned trying to turn up the temperature on Ember. That's pretty impressive for anyone."

"Please call out your final Pokemon," Tracy called.

"Dewgong, let's go!" Daisy called.

The signature Pokemon of the Cerulean City Gym appeared with a splash in the water, singing its name.

"Look at Dewgong!" Ash called out. "It's huge!"

Misty smirked. "Daisy has been working really hard since Seel evolved. She doesn't _love_ being a Gym Leader like I do, but she's definitely proven herself."

"Charmander, let's do this!" Nick called, tossing the Pokeball at one of the floating platforms. The other oversized Pokemon appeared, hands on hips, staring up at the Dewgong on the opposite platform with narrowed eyes.

"No messing around now," Daisy said. "Dewgong, use Aurora Beam!"

"Charmander, Smoke Screen!" Nick called.

As Dewgong released the icy light energy at Charmander, the said Pokemon breathed out a dark haze, cloaking itself and most of the battle field.

Clemont shook his head. "She really knows how to use her Pokemon's moves to her advantage. She might just win despite the type disadvantage."

"Now, who else do we know that sounds like that?" Misty asked, nudging Ash.

Ash gave a half smile and rubbed the back of his head.

"Now use Body Slam!" Nick called.

"Dive, Dewgong!" Daisy called.

But by the time the attack was called, Charmander had collided into the Dewgong, sending him careening into the platform Daisy stood on. When the Pokemon recovered, he shook his head and dove below the surface.

"I wonder what the plan is from here," Misty asked.

Ash shrugged. "I'm not giving away her secrets."

Nick called to Charmander, "Hold it."

The three trainers in the stands exchanged glances.

Dewgong appeared out of the water just in front of Charmander with a wave of water in his wake.

"Now, Charmander! Dragon Rage!"

The much smaller orange Pokemon puffed out its chest and released its own wave of blue but fiery energy straight into the Dewgong. The water steamed, sending smoke in all directions.

Everyone had to shield their eyes before drawing their attention back to the field.

Charmander was wet, but Dewgong was also at least stunned. The first of the two was panting, however, having the clear type disadvantage.

He threw back his head and let out as intimidating of a roar as he could muster, "Chaar…mander…!"

Charmander became encased in blue light and his outline began to grow and shift.

Nick lowered her hand, her eyes blown wide. "Oh my god…."

"No freakin' way!" Misty yelled, her hand to her forehead, and all three of the trainers in the stands came straight to their feet.

In the blue light, the outline of Charmander grew to its full height, standing at nearly the same size as Nick – which wasn't very tall – but was much more than the average for the Pokemon species. Its claws extended, tail lengthened, and fire seemed to grow bigger and brighter from the back. An extension appeared out the back of his head, and the blue light blew off of him in a burst of energy.

Charmeleon stood before them, grinning with determination.

"Finally, something she didn't actually have planned out to surprise us," Clemont said.

"You can't predict evolving," Ash said. "It's only when they Pokemon and trainer are strong enough together that it can happen."

"But Pokemon evolve in the wild, dunderhead," Misty said, flicking his ear.

"Okay yeah, but you know what I mean," he said, rubbing his ear.

"Don't let that evolution throw you off!" Daisy called. "Dewgong, use Headbutt!"

"Charmeleon, Body Slam!" Nick yelled back.

The two collided in the air, landing on a platform, neither Pokemon budging.

"Scratch, Charmeleon!" Nick called.

"Ice Beam, Dewgong!" Daisy called.

As the Dewgong drew back its head, Charmeleon had its claw glowing and extending much faster and aimed straight for the face to stop the Ice Beam in its tracks.

Dewgong recoiled back and fell into the water behind it. Charmeleon scanned the water's edge, waiting.

"Dewgong, Dive!" Daisy commanded.

"Charmelon, Smoke Screen!" Nick called out.

The Dewgong rose up on a wave of water just as Charmeleon had released the fog from its mouth, cloaking itself once again.

"Dragon Rage!" Nick called.

Charmelon came flying out of the black smog and launched its blue fiery attack straight at Dewgong, sending it careening back into the water once again.

Nick and Charmeleon waited.

Dewgong floated to the top of the water, belly-up.

"Dewgong is unable to battle! And the match goes to Charmeleon, giving Nick the win!"

Nick squealed and held out her arms to Charmeleon. The Flame Pokemon turned to her and beamed at the sight, jumping up to her and hugging her at nearly the same height.

"Another unlikely win by the newbie," Misty said, standing up and shaking her head.

"She isn't a newbie," Ash said, "that's for sure. I can only imagine what she'll be like with more hands-on experience like this."

* * *

"Trip!" Iris practically yelped when she unlocked the Gym doors.

The trainer in question barely muttered a hello as he pushed his way inside. Cilan eyed him warily. The younger boy's hair was disheveled, his jacket not quite sitting right on his shoulders, and he looked like he hadn't slept. He didn't even question why Cilan was there, which came as a surprise to him.

"What are you doing here?" Cilan asked, trying to get his attention.

Trip stopped pacing long enough to open his mouth as if to snap at Cilan but then seemed to think better of it. He paused and then sighed. "I'm not the only one that knows something weird is going on here, right?"

"Nice to see you, too, Trip," Iris said, drawing out the words.

Cilan patted Iris' shoulder. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"The memory! The time! Everything!" Trip scrambled to get his camera out of his backpack. "Look," he said, holding it out for both of them to see. The three gathered around the camera. "I was out training when this happened." He scrolled through pictures of his Chandelure. He paused at one of the pictures, the screen seemingly blurred. Then he went to the next few pictures, all of them looking normal.

"So you took a shitty picture," Iris said.

Trip glared at her. "No, dumbass," he snapped. Iris was ready to draw back a fist when Cilan grabbed her wrist and eyed her. "All of this happened at the _exact same time_." He pointed to the time on the picture, 1:32 a.m.

Iris snorted. "So you took a shitty picture at 1:30?" she said with a smirk.

"Just listen to me!" he snapped again, only louder this time. "Look!" he pointed at the time. "At exactly 1:32, not just city, or the region… but the whole _world_ blacked out for a minute."

He walked over the couch and table in the lobby area of the Gym and sat down. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a laptop. He starting searching for that exact time. All news, social media, contests, battles… everything seemed to lose a minute of time across the world.

"What exactly are you suggesting?" Cilan asked, hesitantly.

"I'm suggesting that something important happened at that time. But aside from losing a minute of time, _we're_ the only ones that seemed to _gain_ something." Trip said. He tore his eyes away from the computer to look at Iris. "When was the last time you saw Cilan… or even _thought_ of him before today?"

Iris went to retort but closed her mouth. "That's… not your-"

"Cilan?" he said, turning to him.

He breathed out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Trip is right, Iris. We _hadn't_ even remembered about talking to each other… for months… _years_."

Iris balled her fists. "You can't tell me that I didn't remember you!" she yelled. "Of course I did!"

Cilan took a step toward her and put his hands on her shoulders as she looked down, her face shadowed by her big hair. "Iris…." he said, his voice grave. "We didn't. Neither of us did. It's no one's fault."

She looked up at him, tears staining her face. Her voice was shaky when she spoke, "How could we not remember?"

"It's because of Ash."

The moment between the two seemed to shatter as the both spun on Trip.

"What are you talking about?" Iris said, brushing the tears from her eyes. "I didn't remember him either… or you, for that matter." Then she mumbled, "Maybe I would've been better off."

Cilan glared at her before turning back to Trip. "What are you saying then?"

"I'm saying that we seem to be the only people affected by the memories. Everyone else seemed to not really care. Look at this," he said, pulling up the search bar again. This time he searched for names.

He searched for all of Ash's companions, ones they'd met, ones they hadn't. All of them had seemed to have their own lives in recent years, but since the time of the blackout, they started to come together slowly.

"Dawn just won the Sinnoh Grand Festival with Paul, May, and Drew all there. Last I checked, she had never met Drew, and only May once. Now all of a sudden they seem to remember being buddies over the years. You two don't remember why you didn't contact each other. Clemont just went to Kanto with Tracy for research. And I'm willing to bet any amount of money that Ash is traveling with Misty again. And _none_ of us should know about her. Ash never introduced us," he started to count off his fingers, "he never mentioned her, she never visited, and didn't even take out his so-called 'special Misty lure' when we competed in the fishing competition. You tell me how this is all a coincidence."

Iris and Cilan at each other once again. "You were stalking them?" Iris asked.

"Idiot!" Trip yelled. "They're all connected to Ash! Whether they were direct rivals or people he traveled with, they're all suddenly converging. I met up with Georgia earlier this week, that's the only reason I'm just getting here now. But she wasn't affected because she barely had a real connection to Ash. She seems to be going about her life as normal."

"So what do you say we do about this?" Cilan asked.

"I think we all have to ask Ash that question." Trip said.

Iris' phone in the kitchen started ringing, cutting the tension in the room like a knife.

The two boys looked to Iris, and she rolled her eyes. "Guys, it's a phone. I'm gonna go get that."

She scurried out of the room, relieved to be done with the hostility for the time being. When she sat in front of the video camera and the screen lit with Ash's face, she nearly fell out of the chair. "Guys! You're gonna want to get in here!"

* * *

[A/N 2-9-18]: Look who's starting to put things together!

Thank you for your patience in sticking with the story! I hope this chapter got you excited for more! It was a doozy to write but I'm really happy with how it came out!

To answer some questions I know I'm likely to get:

No, the subplots are not in chronological order, and yes, they are supposed to be a little difficult to follow the timeline.

If you want to chat with me more about the story, please feel free to send me an ask trainernick on Tumblr!


	12. All Fired Up

The three trainers headed out for Saffron City that morning from Cerulean, along with their new traveling companion, Clemont.

Before leaving, Daisy had fashioned them each a charm for their respective Key Stones and a matching charm for their Pokémon's Mega Stones.

Clemont was given a watch; as in she gave him a _real_ watch and embedded the stone in the center of the face. It was a little clunky on the smaller teen, but he expressed his love for the idea.

Misty was given a hair tie with her Key Stone dangling on the end of it. She used it to tie her low ponytail, and it bounced on her shoulder.

Nick's Key Stone was a little tougher. She didn't wear jewelry or tie her hair back, so Daisy got a little creative. She created a pin that clipped to Nick's tank top strap just over her heart.

Ash's Key Stone was made into a medallion that hung loosely on his chest. It was clear that he enjoyed showing it off put holding it up in his hand.

He was so excited to have Clemont in his company once again, and he and Misty had chatted amicably about their mutual love for their favorite types.

"Of course, I would win in a Gym Battle though," Clemont said with a smirk as he pushed up his glasses. At Misty's scowl, he shrugged. "It's just type advantage."

"Oh, then I believe I have a challenge, Ash," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "I'll have you know that I've been my fair share of electric types, never mind other type disadvantages I have."

"But have you beaten another Gym Leader with a type advantage?"

"I don't think that would be a problem… all things considered." she said, smirking back.

"Oh really?" Clemont said. "Why's that?"

"Well you said you started traveling with Ash to learn from him. I started traveling with him because he owed me a bike. He learned from _me_ if anything."

"Hey!" came said-voice. Pikachu snickered at his trainer's reaction.

The conversation continued casually for a time, but the longer it went on about type advantages and such, ideas began to thin out, and Clemont began to take a keener interest in Nick.

Whilst she was happy to talk to him about their predicament, his probing questions about her involvement in the game unsettled her. She wondered more than once if he may have known about her secret.

"So what made you choose to go to the Tree of Beginning anyway?" he asked, keeping his tone casual. "Was Ash able to sense the Key Stone there?"

"I'm not sure," she said quickly, happy to steer the conversation away from herself. "I think it's worth noting something though."

"What's that?" Ash asked, visibly tense.

"You technically have _three_ Pokemon that can Mega Evolve," she said slowly. She raised a hand, counting off on her fingers. "Charizard Y, Sceptile, and Tyranitar can all Mega Evolve. It just depends on the bond you have with them."

Clemont's eyes widened. "You're carrying _three_ Pokemon that can Mega Evolve?!" he shouted. "That's insane!"

"And a _lot_ of power," Misty pointed out. She turned to Nick. "Do you think that could make Ash a target?"

She scoffed. She held up a hand again. "Allow me to count the targets on his back: Aura Guardian, three Mega Pokemon, and a briefcase in his backpack filled with Key Stones and Mega Stones. I think it's safe to safe that he was a target already."

Ash shrugged. "Not like I haven't been hunted by Team Rocket before. Don't worry about it, Mist."

She grimaced. "Don't you think that maybe you should be using those powers in practice to protect yourself?"

Ash's face contorted for brief moment before he took a breath. "I said don't worry about it."

"Misty has a point though," Clemont said. "If you go untrained, you could hurt somebody, or not be able to protect yourself."

"You don't think I know that?!" Ash shouted, spinning on Clemont and halting the group.

Pikachu's ears lowered and he ran behind Nick's leg. She leaned down to pick him up and noted the way Ash was clenching his fists. The gloves he had been given at Cameron Palace were in his bag, having to learn to trust himself with his power, by Nick's own recommendation and Misty's encouragement. But neither had told Clemont about the Time Flower incident.

"Ash," Nick said firmly. He snapped his head to her, and she shook her head at him. "We all know that you understand. They're just looking out for you."

"Well what the hell am I supposed to do?!" he snapped. He stepped toward Nick, making Pikachu shrink down and jump away from them. He was taller than her by at least a head, but she looked him dead in the eyes and didn't flinch away.

Nick shrugged. "Battle your own Pokemon or one of us? Hit a tree? Call Riley?"

"Oh! Yeah, I'm sure that's a great idea! Let me just call the Pokemon Center in Solaceon Town! I'm sure he's just hanging out there!"

"Doesn't hurt to try." she said, straining to keep her tone level. She knew if she provoked him further, it could mean trouble for all of them. She didn't want to tell him to just breathe because she knew when someone told her that, it just made it worse.

"I _want_ to learn to control my powers!" Ash shouted. He turned away from her and took his hat off to run his hand through his mess of hair. He replaced it and sighed. "I just don't know how! Where do I even start?" he said quieter. "I'm sorry…. I just feel-"

Ash stopped completely mid-sentence and snapped his head toward the tree line.

"Ash…?" Misty asked, stepping toward him and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Shh!" Ash hissed, putting his arm up in front of Misty. He squinted into the woods for a moment before his eyes widened and he shouted, "Get down!" and in the same moment, he turned and tackled Misty to the floor.

Nick had moved as soon as Ash made the call and grabbed the practically-shaking Clemont and threw him to the ground, pinning him with her arm over his chest.

Seemingly as they had moved, a barrage of Poison and Grass type attacks soared just inches over them.

Misty looked up to see Ash's face mere inches from hers and flushed red for a second before she heard him hiss in pain. "Ash!" she yelled, trying to get up, but he grabbed her arms and held her down as he was showered by more attacks, skinning his back where his bag wasn't protecting him.

Nick and Clemont were flush to the ground beside each other, save for Nick's arm that pinned Clemont down, and she bit hard into her bottom lip to keep from screaming. Pikachu whimpered beside Nick, tucking himself as close to her stomach as he could get.

"Clemontic gear on!" From the backpack Clemont had landed on in their haste, a long metallic arm stretched out and at the end, a fan unfolded into a metal disc that spread out in front of the group. It wasn't large enough to cover both pairs of trainers, but it blocked some of the attacks.

"Ash, you have to use your Aura!" Misty yelled to him over the sounding of the attacks battering the shield and Ash's hisses of pain.

"I can't," he groaned through his teeth.

"Yes you can!" Nick called to him. "You can do this!"

"Come on, Ash! The shield isn't gonna hold for much longer!" Clemont called.

Misty turned her wrists so that she could grip onto Ash. "Ash, you have to believe you can!"

Nick's eyes widened as a thought occurred to her. "You have to focus on that pain! Embrace it! Redirect it into your Aura! It's based on emotion, right? I know you want to protect us! This is your chance!"

"We believe in you!" Misty said, squeezing his wrists.

"We're running out of time!" Clemont shouted.

"Ash!" Misty yelled.

"Ah!" Ash cried out, clenching his eyes shut and focusing the way Nick said to. Misty could feel his body tense up from the strain, and she could see sweat forming as his body began to glow blues and greens.

"Come on, Ash!" Nick called. "Focus!"

He let out another cry of pain, but suddenly, the Aura surrounding his own body exploded outward, encasing the group in a bubble.

Ash sat up from Misty, holding his arms out to keep up the shield and she quickly scurried out from under him.

The metal shield that had been protecting them outside of the Aura shield began to crackle with flames before exploding in front of them. Nick, Misty and Clemont blocked their faces from the oncoming smoke, but everything seemed to disperse around them and over the Aura. Ash turned to look on, and the shield held up and continued through the attacks.

Misty didn't know how much longer Ash could hold out. She looked down to Ash's partner. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Misty called quickly.

"Pikaaaaaaa… chu!" he shouted, aiming the attack into the woods in front of them.

They all heard a few screams and the attacks ceased.

Ash dropped the Aura shield as the energy dissipated and stumbled backwards into Misty's arms. She strained a bit against his weight, but he caught himself and stood. He panted a bit from the strain, but otherwise, he was standing.

"Luxray! Come on out!" Clemont called, tossing a Pokeball.

"Charmeleon! Let's go!" Nick called, throwing her own Pokeball.

"Prepare for trouble!" Jessie called out.

"And make it double!" James continued.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite all people within our nation!"

"To denounce the evils of true and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

"Meowth, that's right!"

"Wooooobbuffet!"

The three Team Rocket members came out from beyond the trees alongside Wobbuffet and their other Pokemon: Seviper, Yanmega, Gourgeist, Mime Jr; Carnivine, and Inkay.

The four trainers all exchanged worried glances.

Misty spoke up, "Why are you doing this? You've been on our side in the past!"

Jessie and James hesitated before laughing. Nick pursed her lips at this.

"Listen, twerpette," Meowth began, "the twerp ya got is extremely valuable as of late. Da Boss wants ta meet him personally."

"What does he want with Ash?" Clemont called.

"I think we all know the answer to that one," Jessie pointed out.

Nick raised a finger. "Uh, actually that's a pretty valid question. We were just discussing why Ash has more than one target on his back."

"Well then do you care to explain that to us?" James asked.

"Forget da questions!" Meowth yelped. "We need the head twerp, and dat's dat, got it?"

"No." Nick deadpanned. "Charmelon, Dragon Rage!"

"Luxray, Wild Charge!" Clemont shouted.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Misty called.

The two ranged attacks followed alongside Luxray as he charged forward and slammed into Team Rocket's Pokemon.

There was a blast of energy that dispersed out from the collision, and Team Rocket was sent flying.

"How are we supposed to catch the twerp? This is harder than catching Pikachu!" James asked.

"Maybe we don't have to…." Jessie said.

"What are ya talkin' about, Jessie?" Meowth asked.

"What if we just convinced him to come with us?" she said. "Remember how protective he always was of that stupid Pikachu? If we can tell him that his friends are in danger unless he comes with us, maybe he'll go."

"Now we're talkin'!" Meowth said.

"And we're leaving!" James yelled.

"We're blasting off again!" they shouted in unison. The group could faintly hear a weird dinging in the distance.

"Is everyone okay?" Nick said, dusting herself off while petting Charmeleon.

"Think so," Clemont said. He rubbed Luxray's head and returned him to his pokeball.

"Clemont, I gotta hand it to you, that was great!" Misty said, while she looked over Ash.

His face flushed red. "Ah, it was nothing. Besides, it exploded like the others anyway," he said with a shrug.

"But you held on," Ash said, stretching his arms and flexing his wrists.

Misty pursed her lips as Ash tested his limbs. "Are you sure you're okay, Ash?"

He waved her off. "That was honestly nothing, Mist. The gloves definitely helped dull my powers, but without them, I can do a lot."

"My concern is his back," Nick said as she sprayed her own arm with an Antidote. She walked over and turned him around to examine him. His shirt and jacket were ripped to shreds on his back and there were bloody, oozing purple wounds open on him. "Hold still," she warned before spraying him.

He hissed and instinctively grasped the closest thing to him, which happened to be Misty's hand as she looked him over too. The red head flushed but frowned at his pain.

"I think we need to rest here for the day," Nick said. "Ash needs to rest, and unless he wants an infection, we need to get him cleaned up."

"Agreed," Clemont said, setting his backpack down and riffling through. "Misty and I will set up camp. You take care of Ash and yourself."

Nick nodded. "Thank you guys."

Misty smiled but looked to Ash and bit her lip.

He met her eyes and smiled. "I'm fine, really. I just need to rest like she said."

She scoffed in response and turned to help Clemont. "Asking you to not be reckless is like asking me not to swim…. But thank you, Ash."

After she walked away, Ash was left smiling at her. Nick poked him in the ribs and smirked, earning her a groan in reply.

The sun was starting to sink below the trees as Nick walked Ash over to a log on the ground and sat down. She instructed him to pull off his jacket, hat and shirt as she opened her menu to retrieve more Antidote and bandages. She wrapped her own arm in gauze before turning to Ash. She cleaned out the wounds with precision, causing Ash minimal discomfort.

"You're really good at this," he said. "You've had practice?"

"Something like that," she said. "I was in school to be a doctor."

"Oh!" he said quickly. "Then how come you chose to be a trainer here? You could've picked a different class, right?"

Nick hummed in response. "I guess I wanted a change of pace."

Ash nodded. He looked down to his hands which seemed completely normal to any onlookers. He fidgeted with his fingers for a minute. "Hey Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I should call Riley?"

She didn't respond right away. "Turn toward me," she instructed.

Ash turned to face her, and she made to hug him around the chest in order to wrap the bandages. As she worked, she didn't meet his eyes. "I think that it couldn't hurt."

"Can I be honest?"

She met his eyes then and nodded.

He looked at her with both his natural sight and with what he felt around him. Her Aura flared to life in front of him as a brilliant scarlet, dancing around her. He could feel Misty's softer but radiant yellow like the sun off in the clearing helping Clemont who had a similarly yellow Aura but his was deeper and sparking with his ideas.

"I'm afraid of losing myself in all of this. I'm afraid that maybe something might have happened to Riley. I'm afraid that I can't be a trainer anymore…. Am I selfish for not wanting to learn the truth?"

Nick finished taping up his chest and looked up at him. "I'm a complete hypocrite for saying this, but if you want to solve your problems, running will only prolong the issue… and possibly make it worse."

Ash gave her a half smile but sighed. "I know you're right. But I'm still afraid."

"I think that's a good thing," she said. When he quirked an eyebrow at her, she added. "If you were like 'I wanna be a hero! I know how to use my powers!' Then I'd be a little more concerned."

He chuckled for a moment and looked at her. "I mean you already know I've been there."

She smirked and poked his forehead. "Exactly. Just because you're some kind of 'Chosen One' with all these legendary Pokemon needing your help and having these powers doesn't make you any less human."

Ash paused, looking over his shoulder for a second. "But I'm not even real… not really."

Nick narrowed her eyes and huffed. "Don't say that. You feel as much and if not, then more than I do. You and this world we're in is as real as it gets."

"What if what I say and think isn't even me? What if this is all supposed to happen? What if I'm not doing anything to help you leave because I'm like… programmed not to or something?"

"You can't drive yourself crazy with 'what if' questions. And the fact that you even have your own free will to think that says a lot."

Ash shrugged and stood up, collecting his clothes.

"I think you should just leave them off and let the medication do its work. Your clothes are kinda ruined anyway. Just if you lay down, do it in your sleeping bag." Nick suggested.

Ash nodded. "Will do," he said with a thumbs-up. "Thank you for everything, Nick."

She smiled. "Of course."

Most of the equipment was set up for the camp save for the table, chairs and firewood.

"Hey guys," Clemont said as Nick and Ash walked up. "Ash, would you help Misty with the table and chairs while Nick gets firewood with me?"

Ash brightened at the prospect of helping someone else. "Leave it to me!"

Misty rolled her eyes as she started to unfold a chair. "More like leave it to him to break something."

"Hey!"

Nick laughed and followed Clemont when he waved her toward the trees.

"You could have really gotten hurt, you know," Clemont commented.

Nick furrowed her eyebrows at him for a moment before standing up from collecting wood. "I'm sorry?"

"No, no," he said quickly. "I didn't mean to make it sound like I wasn't grateful! I am! Very! Uh… grateful, that is!" His face flushed pink for a moment before he let out a small cough. "What I'm trying to say is… thank you."

Nick smiled. "You're welcome. And I'd do it again," she said, brushing her fingers where she had wrapped her arm.

"But that's not why I brought it up," he said slowly. He stepped closer to her and picked up her bandaged arm. "What do you think this will do to you outside of the game?"

Her lips tightened into a narrow line.

"I'm not saying it to scare you," he pointed out. "I just want you to be aware that your actions here my affect you out there. Don't be so reckless as to think you're invincible."

She smirked. "You mean like Ash?"

Clemont pushed his glasses up further on his nose and sighed. "Yes, like Ash. I first met the kid right before he jumped off a building."

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she said, "Yeah, I remember. I don't think I'm as… _extreme_ as Ash, but I'll try to be more careful."

As Clemont went back to picking up wood, he eyed her warily.

Back at the camp, Ash was helping Misty set up the last of the chairs as she started taking out supplies for dinner.

"I'm sorry," Misty said suddenly, letting her bangs cover her face.

Ash glanced up at her from the chair he was unfolding. "About what?"

"For pressuring you to get help for your powers…." she said quietly.

He bit his bottom lip but said nothing. He eventually shrugged and waved her off. "It's alright. I know you're just trying to help. Nick was putting on the pressure too but felt bad too."

Misty didn't look up even then and fiddled with the cooking supplies. "But you could have gotten more upset, and if I didn't stop or if Team Rocket hadn't intervened and you hadn't sensed them-"

She was cut short by Ash coming up to her and putting his hands on her shoulders. She tensed for a moment before finally looking up at him. He could see the tears threatening to spill in her eyes. "Nick said to me not to drive myself crazy with 'what-ifs'. You shouldn't either. And you're both right, anyway…." he added quieter at the end, looking off for a moment. Misty stood to meet him as he dropped his hands from her shoulders.

"Ash…. You're still your same ambitious, goofy self." she said, flicking his nose and bringing his attention back to her. He rubbed his nose with a mock-annoyed look, making her laugh. "I know you're trying to stay _you_ because you don't want to stray from your dreams. But I also know how protective you are. Don't hide who you are to protect us… to protect me…." She trailed off, hoping he understood what his protecting her truly meant.

"Misty?" Ash asked, looking her straight in the eyes. She straightened and bit her lip but nodded nonetheless. "Promise me that if something happens to me… if I change or change my goals… you'll kick my ass."

She smirked but let out a breath she hadn't realize she was holding. "Count on it." she said, determination in her tone.

Ash smiled back at her as he searched her eyes. She knew she was genuine; she always was. The only time she'd ever really lied to him was when she wasn't honest about having to go their separate ways on their journeys. But now she was making the choice to stay by him despite all of the added complications this journey entailed, facing it without fear. And it all reminded him why she was his closest friend – aside from Pikachu, of course.

Misty didn't know why Ash stayed where he was, looking at her that way. It had happened in a few quiet moments before, always taking her breath away. She loved that in spite of everything that had happened between them, their relationship hadn't changed. She got a warm feeling in her stomach and on her cheeks when she thought about it, staring back at him in that moment. And yet….

Maybe it was time for that relationship to begin to change for the better.

Bringing her out of her musings, Ash put a hand on her shoulder and smiled. He turned away from her and back to the campsite as Nick and Clemont emerged from the tree line. And Misty was left with a smile.

* * *

The following afternoon, the group of four arrived in Saffron City. Nick and Clemont were excited to take on the sights of another new place.

Unlike Cerulean or Pewter, Saffron was bustling much like Viridian City. There were a lot of big businesses around; Nick recognized the Poketch Company and a few others. Clemont marveled at some of the prototypes for new designs in some of the shops, so they had split off from Ash and Misty to do their own exploration.

Back at the Pokemon Center, Ash and Misty checked in to two rooms, one for the girls and one for the boys.

While Misty was unpacking some of her toiletries in the girls' room, Ash knocked on her door. "Come in!"

Ash walked in, fidgeting with his hands but leaning in the doorway and Misty saw this immediately. Her lips formed a thin line as it dawned on her what was wrong. "You couldn't contact Riley, could you?"

Ash nodded but then shook his head. "Yeah, but there's something else…."

Misty furrowed her brows, trying hard to put together what could be bothering him without pulling it out of him. "I don't understand…."

Ash swallowed before pushing himself off the doorway and coming into the room. He sat on one of the beds and put his face in his hands. "This is the city closest to Dr. Yung's castle."

Misty's face fell and she walked over to sit next to Ash on the bed. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into her. Ash wasn't crying but his breathing was shallow and worried her. She rubbed his back in little circles until he calmed down.

Ash picked up his head, bags under his eyes. She realized that he had realized this before coming into the city and why he had been so reserved earlier that day. "Do you know _why_ he used me for his mirage experiment?"

Misty shook her head. "I wasn't there when that happened. You never… told me…." She realized in that moment that it was beyond Ash's control. He couldn't talk about it. She had left after that.

Ash sighed. "He was using my memories of legendary Pokemon to creat mirage versions. If it wasn't for that Mew mirage, we wouldn't have gotten out of there."

"Wait… so are you saying that throughout all of that, you remembered everything?"

"No," he said firmly. "But I did remember all of the legendary Pokemon, if not directly, then buried somewhere in my memories."

Misty paused, not knowing what to say. "I'm sorry, Ash."

He flinched at the memory of practically being electrocuted to get those memories out of him, strapped down to the table, screaming in agony. He shook his head. "At least now I understand why."

Her mouth formed a thin line. "Didn't Doctor Yung escape?"

"The police said he likely died in the fire at the castle. But they never found him."

* * *

"Something bothers me about them going to the Tree of Beginning." Ritchie said.

Brock put his sandwich down and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Mmm?" he hummed.

"Why would Gary call us and be so concerned about them going? Something is wrong with Ash, isn't there?"

Brock sighed and laced his fingers together. "I spoke with Misty. I think they'll be fine."

Ritchie furrowed his brows at Brock. "What did you tell Gary? And Misty?"

"Ritchie, this is between them. Misty is traveling with them and Gary is essentially being their informant. It's a need-to-know basis."

Ritchie hadn't been in Pewter City for very long, and he had never had as close of a friendship with Brock as he did Ash. But in this moment, he had never seen Brock as serious as he was now or when he was treating a Pokemon.

"Brock… I want to help."

He pinched his nose. "I know. But it's not that they don't trust you. The more they talk about it, the more at risk it puts Ash and the rest of their group."

"But doesn't it make more sense for everyone to know what's going on? If not everyone is in the loop, then people can be split up, thrown off-guard… or worse!"

"I know," Brock said, clenching his eyes shut. "I'm thinking."

"I _think_ ," we need to talk to Gary again.

"What about?" Brock said. "I already told him about Mew. You knew that."

"I mean what you're hiding. If Gary can get them intel on what's _really_ happening, then I think it might help them."

He didn't say anything in response.

Ritchie stood up from the booth they were sitting at. "We're going to call Gary, and you're going to fill me in on the way too."

* * *

 **[A/N 4-11-18]: So this chapter is a bit shorter, but it has everything I planned for in it! The ball is starting to roll a little more, and the more that happens, the more people discover the group's secrets! Sorry it's been awhile but I started a new project with Final Fantasy XIV as some of you probably already know! If there's any FFXIV, check it out! Stay tuned for more!**


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